MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

A  MANUAL 

OF  THE 

METHODS,  UTILITY,   AND   COST 

OF 

PUBLIC    IMPROVEMENTS, 

FOR  THE 

MUNICIPAL  OFFICER. 


BY 

W.  F.  GOODHUE,  CIVIL  ENGINEER, 

Member  of  the  Western  Society  of  Engineers  and  the 
Wisconsin  Polytechnic  Society, 


FIRST 

FIRST  THOUSAND. 


NEW   YORK : 
JOHN   WILEY   &   SONS, 

53  EAST  TENTH  STREET. 


R*c'd  UCB  EN VI 

MAY  2  5  1990 


COPYRIGHT,  1893, 

BY 
W.  F.  GOODHUE. 


TPERRIS  BROS., 
ROBRRT  DRUtfMOHn,  Printers, 

Electrotyper,  ^  Pearl  gtreet> 

U I  and  446  Pearl  8tM  New  York. 

New  YofK 


To  MY  FRIEND 
*fconorable  ffrefcericfc  Scbuette,— 

A  Merchant  of  Manitowoc,  Wis. ;   twice  successively 

elected  to  the  Mayoralty  of  that  City; 
an  earnest,  judicious  Advocate  of  Municipal  Improvements, 

which  are  essential  to  public  prosperity; 
economical  and  progressive  in  the  discharge  of 

his  administrative  duties, — 
This  work  is  respectfully  dedicated  by 
THE  AUTHOR. 


PREFACE. 


THE  writer  of  this  work  has  avoided  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent the  use  of  technical  words  and  phrases,  also  math- 
ematical tables  and  formulae,  because  it  is  intended 
for  the  non-professional  reader. 

Once  in  every  year  throughout  our  broad  land  there 
are  chosen,  from  among  the  citizens  of  every  city  and 
town,  a  number  of  councillors  who  will  sit  in  the  coun- 
cil chamber  and  assist  the  chief  magistrate  in  the 
government  of  the  municipality  which  they  represent. 
The  members  of  the  council  are  perhaps  familiar  with 
the  general  plan  and  scope  of  the  various  public  im- 
provements contemplated  during  their  administration, 
but  of  the  details  of  the  work  proposed  they  are  unin- 
formed. It  is  in  the  nature  of  things  that  this  should 
be  so ;  their  education  and  training  have  been  in  other 
work  and  its  rewards.  Yet,  being  men  of  affairs,  they 
will  not  hesitate  to  seek  such  information  regarding 
any  proposed  improvements  as  will  enable  them  to 
discharge  their  official  duties  in  a  manner  that  will 
be  commended  by  their  constituents. 

If  the  contents  of  this  book  can  assist  the  prudent, 


VI  PREFACE. 

conscientious  magistrate  or  councillor  to  secure,  in  a 
judicious  and  economical  way,  those  improvements 
which  are  essential  to  the  welfare  and  prosperity  of  a 
municipality,  the  writer  will  believe  that  his  aim  has 
been  good,  although  the  arrow  may  fall  short  of  the 
mark. 

W.  F.  GOODHUE. 
MILWAUKEE,  Wis.,  October  13,  1892. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Assessment,  Methods 79 

Bonds 101 

Bridges 73 

Building  Laws  and  Ordinances 91 

Cleanliness  and  Health Il6 

Coal,  Weight  of 85 

Concrete 84 

Cost  of  Operating  Water-works 53 

Cost  of  Sewers 12 

Culverts 105 

City  Hall  Plans 108 

Fire  Limits  89 

Fire  Streams 63 

Franchises 64 

Fire-resisting  Construction 97 

Gas  Consumption 33 

Grade  of  Sewers 86 

Hydrant  Pressures  and  Streams 63 

Pipe,  Cast-iron  :  Sizes  and  Weights 61 

Pump  Capacities  for  Small  Cities 59 

Sewerage  Systems I 

Sewer  Ventilation 15 

Sewers,  Cost  of 12 

Standpipes  :  Static  Pressures 56 

vii 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Street  Grades 38 

Street  Lighting 35 

Street  Lighting,  Hours  of 37 

Street  Railways 18 

Street  Sprinkling 23 

Street  Surfaces 26 

Substances,  Weight  of 83 

Walls,  Thickness  of 93 

Water-pipe,  Size  and  Weights .  •  • .  61 

Water-works  Systems 43 

Memoranda — Paving 70 

Miscellaneous  Memoranda 83 

ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Diagram  of  Cellar  Drainage 6 

Diagram  of  Standpipe  Connection  . .    51 

Half  Section  of  Macadamized  Street 26 

Part  of  Floor  Section  of  Bridge 75 

City  Hall  Plans no,  in 

Subsoil  Water 119 


MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 


A  SEWERAGE   SYSTEM. 

A  TOWN  or  city  should  have  a  sewerage  system 
planned  for  its  entire  area,  having  in  view  at  the  time 
the  work  is  done  its  prospective  future  population  and 
enlarged  area.  It  does  not  follow  that  because  a  plan 
is  made  for  the  whole  city  the  entire  system  should 
be  built  at  once ;  on  the  contrary,  a  sewerage  system 
is  never  completed  unless  a  city  stops  growing.  When 
the  main  sewers  are  once  built,  the  street  sewers  are  put 
in  street  by  street,  a  certain  amount  each  year  is  laid, 
—just  so  much  as  the  property  owners  on  each  street 
may  petition  for.  Consequently  the  expenditures  and 
growth  of  the  sewer  work  of  a  city  are  almost  entirely 
in  the  hands  of  the  property  owners.  In  fact,  in  some 
of  our  smaller  cities  the  sewer  work  done  is  altogether 
too  much  in  the  hands  of  the  property  owner:  he  not 
only  controls  the  laying  of  sewers,  but  dictates  their 
course,  depth,  and  outfall ;  and  the  result  of  it  all  is :  there 
is  a  sewerage  system  for  every  two  or  three  blocks,  and 


2  MUNICIPAL   IMPROVEMENTS. 

the  banks  of  lake  or  stream  are  perforated  with  stink- 
ing outlets  of  sewers.  After  such  work  has  once  fairly 
begun  in  a  town  or  city  it  is  difficult  for  the  council  to 
check  it ;  indeed  it  cannot  be  checked  without  causing 
some  bitterness  of  feeling :  the  property  owner  resents 
the  interference  of  the  council  with  what  he  is  pleased 
to  term  "the  right  of  property  owners  to  use  the 
street."  The  only  way  to  remedy  this  evil  of  private 
drain-laying  in  cities  is  for  the  council  to  immediately 
adopt  the  plans  of  a  sewerage  system  and  rigidly  ad- 
here to  it  in  the  future  construction  of  sewers.  Of  course 
the  property  owners  who  have  laid  private  sewers  can 
most  always  be  depended  upon  to  oppose  the  adop- 
tion of  the  sewerage  plans ;  they  have  taken  care  of 
their  own  sewage  by  emptying  it  upon  a  neighbor's 
premises,  or  at  some  place  contiguous  thereto,  and 
decline  to  be  taxed  further  for  the  benefit  of  this  neigh- 
bor or  of  anybody  else. 

Sewers  should  not  be  built  needlessly  large,  that  is, 
of  too  great  diameter :  the  larger  the  sewer  the  larger 
volume  of  water  required  to  flush  it.  Besides,  a  large 
sewer  running  only  one  fourth  full,  or  less,  leaves  a  large 
space  above  the  flow  of  sewage  for  the  accumulation  of 
gases,  which  will  prevail  unless  the  sewers  are  well 
flushed. 

The  sectional  area  of  a  sewer  is  generally  rated  for 
comparison,  one  diameter  with  another,  by  squaring 
the  diameter  of  a  pipe  ;  as,  for  instance,  a  pipe  10  inches 
in  diameter  is  (lOX  10  equals  100)  represented  by  100 
square  inches;  a  sewer  6  inches  in  diameter  is  (6x6 


A    SEWERAGE   SYSTEM.  3 

equals  36)  represented  by  36  square  inches ;  and  a  rub- 
ber hose  2| inches  in  diameter  is  (2^X2^  equals  6^) 
represented  by  6^  square  inches.  If  you  should  flush 
a  sewer  10  inches  in  diameter  with  a  stream  of  water 
thrown  from  an  ordinary  fire-department  hose,  you 
would  be  using,  relatively,  6^  inches  of  water  to  flush 
100  inches  of  pipe.  It  is  not  economical  to  lay  sewer- 
pipe  excessively  large,  and  it  is  a  worse  economy  to 
lay  water-pipe  too  small  in  diameter ;  yet  this  is  the 
order  of  construction  desired  in  many  places,  when 
if  they  would  reverse  the  conditions,  i.e.,  smaller  sew- 
ers and  larger  water-pipe,  the  service  would  be  much 
better  all  around. 

Nowadays  there  are  two  distinct  systems  of  sewerage 
in  use  :  one  is  known  as  the  combined  system,  the  other 
as  the  separate  system. 

The  combined  system  requires  the  largest  pipe, 
catch-basins  at  street  corners,  and  pipe  connections 
with  the  mains ;  also  man-holes  at  street  intersections, 
although  man-holes  are  common  to  both  systems; 
and  it  costs  to  build  it  about  70  per  cent  more  than  the 
separate  system  does. 

The  combined  system  is  the  one  generally  built  in 
the  largest  cities  ;  it  receives  and  disposes  of  all  surface 
(storm)  water  which  flows  in  the  street  gutters  and  all 
the  sewage  from  house,  factory,  and  hotel. 

The  separate  system  has  smaller  pipe,  because  it 
receives  no  water  from  the  street  gutters ;  it  has  man- 
holes at  the  street  intersections  and  oftener  if  required, 
but  has  no  catch  basins  and  receives  all  the  sewage 


4  MUNICIPAL   IMPROVEMENTS. 

from  house,  factory,  and  hotel.  The  actual  difference 
between  the  two  systems  is  that  the  former  cares  for 
the  street  water  of  a  city  and  the  latter  does  not.  The 
use  of  the  flushing  tankis  common  to  both  systems. 
Where  the  combined  system  is  used,  the  storm-water, 
falling  upon  the  sidewalks  and  streets,  washes  their 
surfaces  and  carries  a  great  deal  of  sediment  into  the 
sewers ;  where  the  streets  are  paved  or  macadamized, 
there  is  not  so  much  sediment  taken  into  the  sewers 
but  what  the  storm- water  will  carry  off  and  thus  pre- 
vent choking  or  clogging.  In  our  smaller  cities  there 
are  few  paved  streets,  and  there  is  too  much  loose  ma- 
terial upon  the  street  surface,  to  allow  the  storm-water 
to  flow  into  the  sewers.  The  storm-water  flowing 
along  the  gutters  would  carry  with  it  not  only  great 
quantities  of  sediment,  but  straw,  leaves,  paper,  and 
other  refuse  which  would  clog  the  sewers  quite  often. 

It  is  just  as  well  that  the  sewers  of  a  city  do  not 
receive  the  storm-water  of  its  streets.  Looking  at  it 
from  a  sanitary  standpoint,  it  is  better  that  the  storm- 
water  be  allowed  to  flush  the  street  surfaces :  it  is 
the  only  cleansing  the  streets  receive.  If  there  are 
parts  of  a  city  where  the  storm-water  collects  in  a 
pool  for  lack  of  drainage,  a  drainage-pipe  can  be  laid 
especially  to  carry  off  this  water ;  there  is  no  necessity 
of  taking  it  into  the  sewerage  system  unless  the  pool 
is  located  quite  a  remote  distance  from  a  possible 
outfall. 

A  majority  of  the  smaller  cities  in  this  country  have 
adopted  the  separate  system  of  sewerage.  Its  efficiency 


A    SEWERAGE   SYSTEM.  5 

as  a  system  is  unquestioned,  while  its  economical  con- 
struction and  the  rapidity  with  which  it  can  be  built 
commend  it  to  every  city.  The  smallest  pipe  laid  in 
a  street  in  the  combined  system  is  twelve  inches  in 
diameter;  in  the  separate  system  the  smallest  pipe  laid  is 
eight  inches  in  diameter.  In  the  combined  system  the 
increase  in  pipe  diameters  is  greater,  proportionately 
to  the  distance  laid,  than  it  is  with  the  separate  system. 
The  smallest  pipe  which  should  be  laid  in  a  street,  as 
a  sewer,  is  eight  inches  in  diameter.  The  usual  size 
of  house-drains  connecting  with  street  .sewers  is  six 
inches  in  diameter.  When  establishing  a  grade  of  a 
sewer  on  a  street  it  is  quite  important  that  the  street 
sewer  be  placed  deep  enough  in  the  ground  to  drain 
all  the  cellars  on  the  street.  To  accomplish  this  thor- 
oughly, the  grade — i.e.,  bottom — of  the  sewer  should  be 
from  two  and  one  half  to  three  feet  below  the  level  of 
the  cellars;  the  diameter  of  the  main  sewer,  whether 
it  be  large  or  small,  making  a  difference  in  this  depth 
of  a  few  inches,  more  or  less.  On  residence  streets, 
where  the  cellars  are  about  one  half  their  depth  above 
ground,  the  sewers  need  not  be  laid  as  deep  in  the 
ground  as  they  are  on  the  business  streets,  where  the 
first  floors  of  buildings  are  but  a  slight  elevation  above 
the  street  level.  Yet  the  grades  of  a  sewerage  system 
will  arbitrarily  govern  the  depth  at  which  the  sewers 
must  be  laid  ;  and  if  the  grades,  which  also  govern  the 
flow  of  sewage,  are  to  be  maintained,  to  secure  a  per- 
fect gravity  system,  then  the  sewers  must  be  placed 
at  the  depths  required,  whether  it  be  six  or  sixteen 


MUNICIPAL   IMPROVEMENTS. 


A   SEWEKAGE  SYSTEM.  7 

feet  below  the  surface  of  the  street.  The  most  ex- 
pensive construction  of  a  sewerage  system  is  the  main 
sewer  and  outfall,  particularly  so  if  the  sewer  is  of 
brick  and  quite  large  in  diameter,  and  the  outfall  is  of 
stone  and  placed  on  an  artificially-made  foundation. 
It  is  for  this  reason  that  the  length  of  the  main  sewer 
should  be  reduced  as  much  as  possible  without  danger 
of  impairing  the  efficiency  of  the  system. 

When  a  community  desires  a  system  of  sewerage 
planned,  the  disposal  of  the  sewage  is  the  first  problem 
to  solve,  and  in  connection  with  this  problem  is  the 
consideration  of  the  topography  of  the  area  within  the 
limits  of  the  city,  which  should  be  carefully  studied 
and  mapped  by  an  expert  in  such  matters.  There  may 
be  one  place  at  which  the  public  may  desire  the  sewage 
to  be  emptied,  yet  the  topographical  conditions  are 
such  as  to  entail  heavy  construction  expenses  to  con- 
centrate the  sewage  discharge  at  that  point.  Some- 
times the  topographical  survey  will  develop  a  better 
solution  of  the  problem  than  was  thought  of,  and  less 
objectionable  to  the  inhabitants  than  it  was  expected 
to  find  before  the  survey  was  made.  The  disposal  of 
the  sewage  of  a  city,  which  means  the  location  of  the 
sewer  outfall,  is  the  most  complex  question  the  sanitary 
engineer  has  to  encounter.  Every  locality  gives  him 
a  new  study,  demands  a  different  treatment,  and  calls 
for  a  wide  range  of  experience. 

The  discharge  of  sewage  into  a  lake,  stream,  or  pond 
is  often  done  under  necessity,  and  it  is  to  be  deplored 
that  it  is  ever  done  at  all.  The  community  needs  the 


8  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

sewers;  and  while  it  has  the  means  to  build  as  much  of 
the  system  as  will  relieve  its  immediate  needs,  it  has  no 
money  to  provide  a  proper  and  unobjectionable  method 
of  sewage  disposal.  Therefore  the  system  is  built  and 
the  disposal  of  the  sewage  in  an  unobjectionable  man- 
ner is  deferred  until  some  future  time,  when  the  accu- 
mulations at  the  outfall  and  vicinity  become  so  intol- 
erable that  the  community  itself  demand  the  abate- 
ment of  the  nuisance. 

The  location  of  a  sewage  outfall  where  it  will  dis- 
charge into  living  waters  cannot  be  under  any  circum- 
stances a  permanent  location  ;  sooner  or  later  all  such 
sewage  outfalls  will  be  abated,  and  each  and  every  city 
thus  contributing  to  the  pollution  of  our  inland  waters 
will  be  required  to  cleanse  or  otherwise  purify  its  sew- 
age and  discharge  only  clean  water  into  them.  Some 
of  the  States  have  already  prohibited  such  pollution, 
and  several  inland  cities  have  been  compelled  to 
cleanse  their  sewage  within  their  respective  limits. 
As  our  cities  grow  larger  and  the  population  becomes 
more  dense  within  them,  the  question  of  sewage  pollu- 
tion and  sewage  disposal  will  receive  the  attention  it 
even  now  deserves,  and  the  simplicity  of  its  solution 
will  perhaps  cause  us  to  wonder  why  it  has  not  been 
solved  much  sooner. 

The  map  of  a  sewerage  system  should  show,  when 
completed,  the  location  of  all  sewers,  with  the  different 
kinds  (whether  pipe  or  brick  material)  marked  plainly 
thereon  ;  also  the  grade  of  each  line  of  sewer,  as  well 
as  the  size  or  diameter ;  it  should  also  show  the  loca- 


A    SEWERAGE   SYSTEM.  9 

tion  of  the  outfall  or  outfalls,  man-holes  (catch-basins, 
if  the  combined  system  is  planned),  lantern-holes,  and 
flushing  tanks.  There  should  also  accompany  the 
map  system  a  profile  of  the  main  and  intercepting 
sewers,  a  detail  drawing  of  outfalls,  man-holes,  flushing 
tanks,  lantern-holes,  respectively,  with  complete  speci- 
fications for  the  performance  of  each  and  every  kind 
of  work  required  to  be  done  to  build  the  system,  or 
any  part  of  it,  in  a  practical,  workmanlike  manner. 
The  city  or  town  having  such  plans  made  should  also 
obtain,  if  it  does  not  already  possess  it,  a  full  and 
complete  draft  of  a  sewerage  ordinance,  from  which 
an  ordinance  may  be  framed  and  adopted  suitable  to 
the  requirements  of  the  locality  desiring  it.  The  ob- 
ject of  introducing  such  an  ordinance  is  to  regulate 
the  construction  and  maintenance  of  public  sewers, 
tapping  and  using  the  same  ;  to  provide  for  flushing, 
cleansing,  and  repairs ;  and  to  adopt  a  method  of 
assessments  whereby  to  raise  money  in  an  equitable 
manner  for  the  payment  of  sewerage  construction,  etc. 
None  but  licensed  drain-layers  should  be  allowed  to 
tap  or  make  connection  with  the  public  sewers,  and  a 
record  should  be  kept  at  the  city  hall  of  all  such  con- 
nections. The  city  should  designate  what  kind  and 
size  of  pipe  should  be  used,  not  only  for  street  sewers, 
but  of  all  house  connections  laid  between  the  street 
sewer  and  the  block  lines,  and  it  should  also  require 
the  use  and  employment  of  the  best  material  and 
workmanship  connected  with  the  public  sewers  and 
house  connections. 


10  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

A  sewerage  system  when  built  must  be  well  built, 
otherwise  it  is  a  menace  to  public  health ;  besides,  if 
well  built,  the  expense  of  repairs  are  reduced  to  a  min- 
imum. 

The  practice  of  connecting  house-drains  with  public 
sewers  while  under  construction  should  never  be 
allowed.  The  earth  in  the  trenches  will  settle  and  by 
its  great  weight  break  and  detach  the  connections, 
causing  much  damage  and  expensive  repairs.  The 
newly-filled  trenches  should  be  allowed  at  least  thirty 
days'  time  for  subsidence ;  sixty  days'  time  is  even  bet- 
ter. House-drains  should  have  a  grade  of  not  less 
than  £  inch  to  the  foot.  Flushing  tanks  that  will  con- 
tain about  200  gallons  of  water  should  be  located  at 
the  upper  end  of  all  lines  of  sewers.  There  are  several 
flush  tanks  on  the  market  that  are  designed  to  work 
automatically,  and  give  satisfaction  to  those  using 
them. 

When  building  sewers  use  the  best  material  obtain- 
able ;  the  brick  used  should  be  well  burnt,  hard  and 
smoothly  formed,  well  laid  with  full  mortar  joint.  The 
sewer-pipe  used  should  be  true  in  form  and  diameter 
and  uninjured  when  laid  ;  the  joints  well  flushed  and 
bedded  in  the  best  quality  of  hydraulic  cement-mortar. 
The  house  connections  should  be  of  the  same  quality 
of  material,  and  good  workmanship  should  be  the  rule 
in  all  cases.  Sometimes  the  economically  inclined 
householder  will  buy  culled  sewer-pipe  whereby  to 
make  connection  with  the  street  sewer,  and  expect  the 
drain-layer  to  use  this  kind  of  pipe  in  his  work.  A 


A    SEWERAGE   SYSTEM.  II 

drain-layer  who  will  knowingly  lay  such  pipe  should  be 
fined  heavily  and  also  be  deprived  of  his  license. 

In  some  cities  the  licensing  of  drain-layers  and 
plumbers  is  vested  solely  in  the  chief  executive  of  the 
city,  permitting  this  officer  to  grant  licenses  and  also 
conferring  upon  him  authority  to  rescind  a  license 
whenever  a  holder  thereof  has  wilfully  violated  the  law 
while  in  the  prosecution  of  his  work.  Summary  exam- 
ples of  this  kind  are  often  beneficial  to  a  community. 


12  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 


COST    OF    SEWERS    AND    APPUR- 
TENANCES. 

THE  cost  of  sewer  construction  varies  much  accord- 
ing to  the  local  conditions.  The  freight  on  material  is 
often  the  cause  of  a  considerable  increase  of  cost  above 
the  average  price.  The  character  of  the  earth  in  which 
the  sewer  is  laid  will  sometimes  almost  double  the  cost 
of  work.  Rock,  hard-pan,  the  prevalence  of  water  in 
large  quantities  in  the  trenches,  a  loose  sandy  soil 
where  continuous  sheeting  and  bracing  is  required — all 
these  difficulties  which  must  be  overcome  are  expen- 
sive factors  in  the  cost  of  sewer  construction. 

Sewer-pipe  should  be  paid  for  at  a  stated  price  per 
lineal  foot  for  each  size  of  pipe  used  or  laid  in  the 
ground.  Breakages,  cracked  and  damaged  pipe,  are 
generally  excluded  from  the  contract  and  work,  and  are 
a  matter  of  settlement  between  the  contractor  and 
dealer;  hence  it  is  better  and  more  economical  fora 
municipality  to  buy  its  sewer-pipe  of  the  builder  when 
it  is  laid  in  the  ground  than  to  buy  it  from  a  dealer 
and  deliver  the  best  of  it  to  the  sewer  builder  ;  other- 
wise the  municipality  must  make  the  settlement  with 
the  dealer  for  breakages,  etc.  Where  no  troublesome 
and  expensive  obstacles  are  encountered  the  price  for 


COST  OF  SEWERS  AND   APPURTENANCES.        13 

building  sewers  of  various  sizes  and  kinds  with  appur- 
tenances is  as  follows : 

8-inch  sewer-pipe,  per  lineal  foot  laid  . .  $o  50 
10     "         "         "       "         "       "       "          o  60 

^2      "  "  "         "  "         "         "  O    7O 

,     -  ..  ((  ((  «  «  «  «  J         QQ 

yQ  «  ((  ((  ((  «  <t  ((  j       2O 

20     "        "        "       "        "      "       "          i   °o 

-,     .  <(  ((  ((  <(  t(  «  «  £         (jQ 

Sections  with  slants  or  house  connections  are  in- 
cluded in  the  foregoing  prices.  Catch-basins,  man-holes, 
and  flushing  tanks  are  not  included,  but  are  extra,  as 
follows : 

Man-holes,  complete,  $25  to  $35,  according  to  depth. 

Catch-basins,  complete,  $30  to  $50,  according  to 
depth. 

Flushing  tanks  (automatic)    cost   from  $50  to  $70. 

Brick  sewers  cost  about  $1  per  vertical  foot,  per 
lineal  foot  laid,  measuring  the  extreme  outside  diam- 
eter of  the  sewer.  Thus  a  brick  sewer  whose  extreme 
outside  diameter  is  four  feet  eight  inches  will  cost 
$4.66  per  lineal  foot  in  place.  If  a  concrete  or  timber 
foundation  must  be  provided  upon  which  to  build  the 
sewer,  then  this  will  be  an  additional  cost. 

In  all  cases  the  plans  and  specifications  for  the  sewer 
construction  should  be  prepared  in  the  best  manner, 
having  a  single  aim  to  durable  and  permanent  construc- 
tion, then  ask  for  proposals  to  build  accordingly.  If 


14  MUNICIPAL   IMPROVEMENTS. 

the  bids  when  opened  are  found  to  be  too  high  for  the 
amount  of  money  provided  for  the  work,  it  is  an  easier 
matter  to  curtail  the  amount  of  work  after  the  bids  are 
opened  than  it  is  to  dicker  with  a  contractor  for  better 
and  more  expensive  work  than  was  asked  for  by  the 
plans  and  specifications,  when  they  are  found  to  be 
deficient  in  this  respect. 


THE    VENTILATION  OF  SEWERS.  1 5 


THE  VENTILATION  OF   SEWERS. 

No  matter  how  thoroughly  well  a  sewerage  system 
has  been  built,  there  will  be  at  times  an  accumulation 
of  sewer-gas  within  the  sewers.  If  the  sewers  are  laid 
closely  to  true  grades  and  are  well  flushed  at  short  in- 
tervals of  time,  the  accumulation  of  gases  is  largely 
reduced.  There  are  many  different  methods  suggested 
for  ventilating  sewers  ;  none  of  them,  however,  are  effi- 
cient, for  the  reason  that  the  sewer-gas  will  not  rise 
against  the  colder  air  above  ground,  but  will  follow 
warm  currents  of  air  within  the  sewers  and  branches 
and  escape  into  such  localities  as  the  warm  air  may  lead 
it.  The  temperature  of  most  sewers  is  about  65  to  75 
degrees  (Fahrenheit),  and  will  rarely  ever  be  lower  than 
60  degrees.  The  tendency  of  movement  of  sewer-gas 
within  a  system  is  to  the  higher  altitudes  of  the  system 
and  city  in  which  it  is  built ;  therefore  the  householder 
on  the  hill  is  more  liable  to  receive  gas  in  his  house, 
unless  his  pipes  are  well  trapped,  than  is  the  house- 
holder in  the  valley. 

It  is  always  better  to  submerge  the  mouth  of  an  out- 
fall where  it  empties  into  a  body  of  water;  by  doing  so 
the  mouth  is  sealed  against  adverse  winds,  which  have 
a  tendency  to  drive  the  gases  through  the  sewer-pipe 
to  the  higher  elevations  of  a  system. 

The  man-holes  of  a  sewerage  system  located  on  the 


1 6  MUNICIPAL   IMPROVEMENTS. 

sewers  at  street  intersections  are  supposed  to  furnish  all 
the  ventilation  required  for  a  sewerage  system,  but  it  is 
extremely  doubtful  if  any  sanitary  engineer  will  claim 
this  to  to  be  an  efficient  method  of  ventilation.  That 
they  do  allow  some  gas  to  escape  is  evident,  but  not  all 
of  it  finds  egress  from  the  sewer  by  this  means,  as  resi- 
dents near  man-holes  will  testify. 

If  man-hole  covers  along  an  entire  street  were  all 
removed  at  the  same  time,  and  allowed  to  remain  so 
for  several  hours,  the  escape  of  gas  from  that  particular 
sewer  would  perhaps  be  greater  during  the  time  these 
covers  are  off  than  will  ever  escape  through  the  small 
openings  made  in  the  covers  for  that  purpose.  It 
would  be  an  unusual  sight  to  see  the  sewer  on  a  whole 
street  ventilated  in  this  manner.  It  is  a  common  prac- 
tice in  many  cities  to  trap  the  pipe  connection  of  a 
catch-basin  with  the  main  sewer  by  turning  the  end  of 
the  pipe  downwards  into  the  catch-basin,  so  that  the 
outlet  is  always  below  the  level  of  water  which  remains 
in  the  bottom  of  it.  The  only  reason  for  doing  so, 
"  that  has  been  told,"  is  that  sewer-gas  arising  from 
the  catch-basin  would  offend  the  noses  of  casual  pedes- 
trians were  it  not  trapped.  The  casual  pedestrian  can 
run  away  from  it  if  he  chooses  to  do  so  ;  the  house- 
holder cannot  run  away  from  it  so  easily.  The  sewer- 
gas  which  escapes  into  free  air  from  man-hole  and 
catch-basin  leaves  less  to  penetrate  the  house ;  there- 
fore it  is  wiser  and  more  humane  to  have  less  regard 
for  peripatetic  noses  and  more  for  the  inmates  of  the 
household,  by  leaving  the  connection  not  trapped. 


THE    VENTILATION   OF   SEWERS,  \*J 

If  sewers  are  carefully  laid  to  grade,  "  straight  and 
true  as  a  gun-barrel,"  as  is  sometimes  said  of  them,  so 
that  there  is  a  constant  movement  of  the  sewage 
towards  the  outfall,  there  is  less  liability  of  offensive 
odors  arising  from  them  than  if  obstructions  within 
hold  the  sewage  in  small  pools.  The  movement  of  the 
sewage  from  the  household  sink  or  water-closet  to  the 
main  outfall  of  the  system  should  be  constant  and  un- 
interrupted. 


18  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 


STREET-CAR   LINES. 

WHEN  granting  a  franchise  to  a  company  to  operate 
street-car  lines  in  a  town  or  city,  care  should  be  taken 
to  define  the  gauge  of  the  track  to  be  laid.  A  gauge 
that  is  narrower  than  the  wheel  gauge  of  the  ordinary 
wagon  or  carriage  is  a  nuisance  and  should  not  be  al- 
lowed in  any  city.  Four  feet  eight  and  one  half 
inches  is  the  usual  gauge  of  all  wagons,  and  this  should 
be  the  distance  between  rails  of  the  street  railway. 

To  determine  the  question  of  street  occupancy  and 
paving,  the  right  of  way  allowed  to  a  street-car  com- 
pany should  be  the  extreme  width  of  one  car  for  a 
single  track,  and  the  extreme  width  of  two  cars  stand- 
ing side  by  side,  on  parallel  tracks,  where  a  double 
track  is  to  be  laid.  This  understanding  of  the  right 
of  way  also  defines  the  width  of  street  which  should 
be  paved  and  repaired  by  the  company.  Thus  the 
width  to  be  paved  at  the  expense  of  the  company  will 
be  approximately  a  strip  eighteen  inches  wide  outside 
of  the  rails  and  the  four-foot  strip  between  the  rails, 
where  a  double  track  is  laid,  besides  the  width  between 
the  rails  of  each  track. 

This  amount  of  paving  which  should  be  done  by  the 
company  is  but  a  fair  compensation  to  the  property 
owners  on.  the  street  whose  frontage  the  company  are 


STREET-CAR  LINE 

in  part  using  as  a  means  of  gain  or  revenue,  at 
no  more  than  right  that  the  company  should  relieve 
the  property  owners  of  a  fair  share  in  the  cost  of  im- 
proving and  maintaining  the  streets  in  a  good  service- 
able condition.  Besides,  the  street  cars  really  occupy 
more  of  the  street  than  is  defined  by  the  laying  of  one 
or  more  tracks,  whether  the  franchise  says  so  or  not. 
Vehicles  are  required  by  city  ordinance,  as  defined  by 
the  franchise,  to  abandon  the  tracks  on  the  approach 
of  a  street  car,  that  it  may  proceed  on  its  way  with- 
out detention,  and  the  signal  used  by  the  car-driver 
to  warn  vehicles  when  on  the  track  is  sanctioned  by 
the  ordinance  or  franchise ;  and  if  the  driver  of  the 
vehicle  does  not  heed  the  signals,  he  can  be  fined  for 
not  doing  so.  The  driver  of  the  vehicle  must  move 
far  enough  from  the  track,  either  one  side  or  the  other, 
to  allow  the  body  of  the  car  to  pass,  thus  giving  up  to 
the  street  car  a  width  of  at  least  eight  feet  of  street. 

The  street-car  company  should  be  required  to  lay 
and  maintain  its  tracks  to  the  established  grade  of  the 
streets  ;  and  when  a  street  is  paved  or  otherwise  im- 
proved, the  share  of  the  work  to  be  done  by  the  com- 
pany should  be  performed  at  the  same  time  the  city's 
work  is  done. 

In  some  cities  the  number  of  street  cars  used  and 
owned  by  the  company  are  registered  at  the  city 
clerk's  office  and  are  licensed  to  operate  by  the  city, 
the  company  paying  a  stipulated  sum  for  each  license. 
These  sums  vary  with  different  cities  :  $10  in  some 
cities;  $20  and  $25  annually  in  others.  In  Baltimore, 


2O  MUNICIPAL   IMPROVEMENTS. 

Maryland,  the  city  required  the  street-car  companies 
to  pay  one  cent  from  each  fare  collected  to  the  city. 
The  companies  therefore  charged  a  six-cent  fare  and 
thus  became  tax-collectors  for  the  city  without  any 
expense  to  themselves.  Had  the  city  restricted  the 
fares  to  five  cents  per  capita  per  ride,  the  result  to  the 
street-car  companies  would  have  been  widely  different. 

This  is  an  instance  where  cities  are  overreached  by 
exacting  terms  that  are  not  fully  considered,  nor  all 
the  results  carefully '  weighed  when  the  franchise  is 
granted.  When  a  city  grants  a  franchise  to  a  street- 
car company  it  should  state  the  exact  terms  of  the 
franchise  so  that  they  cannot  be  evaded,  or  leave  them 
out  of  the  franchise  altogether.  To  exact  the  condi- 
tion that  "  car  fares  shall  be  but  five  cents  per  capita 
on  a  certain  line  "  does  not  insure  a  five-cent  fare  to 
the  patrons  of  that  line  unless  the  distance  is  also  stip- 
ulated which  a  patron  may  ride  for  five  cents  ;  because 
the  street-car  company  can  make  two  distinct  sections 
of  its  one  line,  as  has  been  done. 

In  some  franchises  restrictions  have  been  incorpo- 
rated which  prevent  the  company  from  charging  addi- 
tional fare  upon  a  line  or  lines  running  to  fair  or 
exposition  grounds  and  to  certain  parks  or  places  on 
legal  holidays,  also  requiring  the  street  cars  to  be  at 
the  depot  to  meet  incoming  trains  ;  but  such  restrictions 
are  not  usually  necessary.  The  street-car  companies  in 
most  cities  endeavor  to  take  care  of  all  public  travel 
which  comes  their  way  in  a  liberal,  commendable  man- 
ner. The  most  serious  complaint  against  street- car 


STREET-CAR  LINES.  21 

companies  is  the  overcrowding  of  the  cars,  especially 
in  the  morning  and  at  night  when  the  people  are 
going  to  and  from  their  daily  work.  But  the  people 
themselves  are  largely  to  blame  for  this  evil ;  they  will 
mount  an  overcrowded  car  until  every  foot  of  space 
inside  and  outside  is  occupied,  pay  their  fare  to  the 
conductor,  and  then  do  their  grumbling.  If  they 
would  do  their  grumbling  before  they  paid  their  fare, 
some  good  might  come  from  it. 

Street-car  companies  operating  horse-car  lines  should 
be  allowed  to  lay  cobblestone  pavements  between  the 
rails  of  a  track  on  steep  grades.  Such  a  pavement  is 
a  merciful  provision  for  the  animals  hauling  the  cars. 
The  residents  on  a  street  generally  object  to  cobble 
pavement  because  of  the  noise  ;  but  the  service  the 
company  owes  to  the  public  demands  it  and  it  should 
be  permitted.  A  wood  pavement  on  a  steep  grade  is 
wet  and  slippery  and  very  severe  on  the  animals  hauling 
the  car,  and  when  cars  are  heavily  laden  much  time  is 
consumed  climbing  such  hills  or  grades. 

A  street  railway  built  with  rails  laid  on  longitudinal 
stringers  is  not  as  serviceable  a  track  nor  is  it  as  pleas- 
ant to  ride  upon  as  a  track  laid  on  cross  ties,  with  string- 
ers supporting  the  rails.  The  cars,  after  a  few  weeks  of 
travel  over  it,  take  to  bobbing  up  and  down  like  a 
storm-tossed  vessel,  which  is  very  disagreeable  to  the 
occupants.  The  track  laid  on  cross  ties  is,  if  well  bal- 
lasted and  well  kept,  as  pleasant  and  smooth  riding  as 
any  steam-railway  track. 

With  the  introduction  of  electric  motor  street  rail- 


22  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

ways,  heavier  cars  have  come  into  use  and  the  rails 
used  are  heavier.  The  girder  rail  laid  by  the  Cream 
City  Railway  Company  of  Milwaukee  weighs  89  pounds 
per  yard.  The  old  horse-car  lines  used  rails  varying  in 
weight  from  45  to  60  pounds  per  yard.  An  economi- 
cally wearing  rail,  one  that  will  not  kink  under  heavy 
loads,  should  be  not  less  than  60  pounds  per  yard. 


STREET  SPRINKLING. 


STREET  SPRINKLING. 

EXPERIENCE  has  proved  that  the  most  satisfactory 
method  of  sprinkling  streets  is  to  place  the  work  en- 
tirely in  the  hands  of  the  municipal  authorities.  When 
two  thirds  of  the  property  owners  on  a  street  petition 
the  council  to  have  it  sprinkled  there  can  be  no  legal 
obstacle  that  will  prevent  a  proper  assessment  of  the 
abutting  property  on  that  street  to  provide  the  neces- 
sary means  to  pay  for  the  sprinkling.  When  such  work 
is  done  by  the  property  owners  it  is  seldom  well  or 
satisfactorily  done.  Some  owners  will  not  subscribe 
for  the  work,  and  their  frontage  is  therefore  not 
sprinkled ;  the  gaps  thus  left  are  a  positive  nuisance  to 
those  who  do  pay  for  the  sprinkling,  because  they  do 
not  receive  the  protection  from  dust  which  they  pay 
for.  The  whole  block  or  street  should  be  sprinkled, 
if  sprinkled  at  all.  If  a  street-car  line  traverses  a 
street,  the  car  company  should  pay  for  one  third  the 
sprinkling. 

In  some  cities  the  cost  of  sprinkling  is  paid  entirely 
by  the  city  from  a  general  fund ;  in  others  the  cost  is 
paid  by  assessments  made  against  the  abutting  prop- 
erty, the  city  itself  bearing  no  share  of  it  whatever. 
Sometimes  a  city  will  assess  the  abutting  property  from 
two  to  three  cents  per  lineal  foot  of  frontage  and  pay 


24  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

the  balance  from  a  general  fund.  There  is  much  differ- 
ence in  the  cost  of  street  sprinkling  as  paid  by  different 
cities  and  towns;  it  is  not  readily  understood  why  one 
city  should  pay  twice  as  much  per  mile  for  street  sprink- 
ling as  another,  when  both  have  a  water-works  system 
and  the  scarcity  of  water  does  not  enter  into  the  con- 
ditions in  either  case;  nor  is  it  apparent  even  why  one 
city  should  pay  $200  per  mile  more  than  another,  yet 
statistics  on  street  sprinkling  show  such  differences. 

It  is  claimed  that  an  assessment  of  five  cents  per 
lineal  foot  of  frontage,  or  ten  cents  per  lineal  foot  of 
street,  will  pay  for  the  cost  of  sprinkling  the  widest 
street.  This  rate  of  assessment  equals  $528  per  mile  of 
street  and  is  from  $100  to  $250  less  per  mile  than  is 
paid  by  our  largest  cities. 

At  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  the  cost  for  eight  months' 
sprinkling  per  mile  of  street  is  about  $700.  The  city 
furnishes  the  water  free  of  cost  to  the  parties  doing  the 
sprinkling.  At  Rochester,  New  York,  the  cost  is  about 
$781  per  mile  of  street. 

At  Racine,  Wisconsin,  the  water  company  charge  the 
party  doing  the  sprinkling  at  the  rate  of  one  and  one 
fourth  cents  per  lineal  foot  of  street  sprinkled  ;  to  this 
must  be  added  cost  of  sprinkling.  Some  cities  pay 
$100  per  month,  for  a  season  or  six  or  seven  months, 
per  mile  of  street,  and  the  water  furnished  free  by  the 
city.  Water  companies  supplying  cities  with  water 
have  stated  rates  for  street  sprinkling  incorporated  into 
the  franchise  when  granted  ;  these  rates  vary  from  three 
to  five  cents  per  lineal  foot  of  frontage,  and  some  have 


STREET  SPRINKLING.  2$ 

a  rate  as  high  as  five  cents  per  square  foot  of  street 
area.  These  prices  are  for  the  water  alone  ;  the  labor 
of  sprinkling  is  additional. 

Contracts  for  sprinkling  require  the  streets  to  be 
sprinkled  three  times  daily,  excepting  Sundays,  on 
which  day  the  streets  are  to  be  sprinkled  once  and  before 
9  o'clock  A.M.  In  some  cities  no  street  sprinkling  on 
Sundays  is  required. 

The  carts  are  generally  required  to  cover  not  less 
than  two  miles  per  day,  each,  on  a  street  having  an 
average  width  of  thirty-six  feet  between  curbs.  On 
level  streets,  or  rather  streets  that  have  comparatively 
light  grades,  carts  can  do  much  better  than  this.  The 
spread  of  the  sprinkler  is  eighteen  feet,  and  a  cart  con- 
tains not  less  than  600  gallons  of  water.  All  water- 
carts  should  have  wheel-tires  not  less  than  three  inches 
wide,  for  they  have  heavy  loads. 

It  has  been  estimated  that  a  cart  can  cover  from  five 
to  six  miles  per  day  (single  spread)  of  ten  hours.  The 
distance  which  can  be  covered  by  a  water-cart  in  one 
day  depends  somewhat  upon  the  facility  for  supplying 
it  with  water. 

A  city  owning  its  water-works  can  make  cheaper  con- 
tracts for  sprinkling  than  if  it  purchases  the  water  from 
a  company,  but  it  does  not  follow  that  the  cost  of  sup- 
plying the  water  is  less  for  a  city  than  for  a  water  com- 
pany. Few  cities  operate  a  plant  as  cheaply  as  the 
water  companies  do;  the  reasons  therefor  are  obvious. 


26  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 


THE  STREET  SURFACE— PAVEMENTS 
AND  IMPLEMENTS. 

WHEN  it  is  contemplated  to  have  a  street  paved 
and  the  improvement  is  to  be  paid  for  by  assessments 
made  against  the  abutting  property,  as  is  the  usual 
custom,  a  map  drawn  to  some  large  and  convenient 
scale  should  be  made,  showing  and  including  all  the 
property  which  may  be  affected  by  the  improvement. 
If  a  street-car  line  traverses  the  street,  the  area  which 
the  street-car  company  must  pave,  or  pay  for  paving, 
should  be  laid  off  on  the  map,  then  the  frontage  of 
each  piece  of  property  located  upon  each  side  of  the 
street  should  be  defined.  The  street-car  area  can  be 
washed  in  one  color,  all  the  property  owned  by  indi- 
viduals in  another  color,  and  the  city's  share  of  the 
work  defined  with  a  third  different  color.  Then  com- 
pute areas  by  square  yards  and  note  the  number  of 
yards  and  fractions  thereof  upon  each  individual  tract, 
respectively. 

A  map  thus  prepared  is  not  only  a  satisfactory 
exhibit  to  the  property  owners  who  are  pecuniarily 
interested  in  the  work,  but  it  otherwise  serves  many 
purposes  and  interests  ;  the  council,  the  assessors,  the 
engineer  in  charge,  and  the  contractor  who  performs 
the  work,  all  have  a  correct  and  reliable  guide  which 


THE   STREET  SURFACE.      I     '  ^V 

V  < 

will  enable  them  to  carry  on  the  entire  improvement 
and  make  compensation  therefor  in  an  intelligent  and 
satisfactory  manner. 

To  go  into  the  details  of  street  paving  would  be 
intruding  upon  specifications  for  such  work,  and  there 
are  different  specifications  for  different  pavements  and 
localities.  The  intention  of  this  work  is  to  describe 
the  essential  features  of  municipal  improvements, 
omitting  those  details  which  would  not  only  be  inap- 
plicable here,  but  would  make  the  work  cumbersome. 

Every  community  must  decide  for  itself  what  sort 
of  paving  material  it  will  adopt  for  its  streets.  Often 
the  local  quarries  will  settle  the  question,  or  the  stone 
they  can  buy  at  a  distance  and  transport  at  low  or 
reasonably  low  freight  rates.  In  Illinois,  stone  and 
brick  are  chiefly  used  for  pavements.  In  Wisconsin 
cedar  and  tamarack  blocks,  granite  and  limestones  are 
used.  No  paving  brick  are  made  in  Northwest  north 
of  the  northern  line  of  Illinois.  Few  of  the  limestones 
make  good  pavements,  because  of  their  brittleness. 
Granite  fashioned  into  the  shape  of  the  "  Belgian 
block  "  is  used  on  the  main  thoroughfares  of  most 
large  cities  and  makes  a  good  wearing,  durable  pave- 
ment, but  is  almost  as  noisy  as  the  old  cobblestone 
pavement.  Not  all  stones  that  are  hard  make  good 
paving  material,  nor  should  many  of  the  softer  stones 
be  rejected  because  they  are  not  hard.  Many  of  the 
gritty,  softer  stones  will  wear  evenly  and  smoothly  and 
are  not  as  prolific  of  noise  as  the  harder  and  more 
brittle  stones  are. 


28  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

The  asphaltum  pavement  is  the  ideal  pavement,  and 
its  adoption  is  increasing  largely  every  year.  The  aver- 
age property  owner  does  not  favor  it,  because  of  its 
expensiveness. 

Wood  pavements  in  their  best  condition  are  simply 
makeshifts.  They  are  not  durable,  do  not  wear 
smoothly,  are  not  cleanly,  and  in  a  few  years  they  be- 
come so  rotten  that  they  are  a  menace  to  the  health 
of  the  inhabitants  residing  on  the  street  where  such 
pavement  is  laid.  A  wood  pavement  that  is  well 
sprinkled  during  the  summer  months  is  as  prolific  of 
mosquitoes  as  are  the  cedar  woods  in  the  wilds  of 
northern  Wisconsin. 

Brick  pavements  seem  to  have  many  advocates  in 
their  favor  in  our  smaller  cities  and  a  much  less  number 
in  our  larger  cities.  Excepting  in  some  few  localities 
it  is  comparatively  a  new  paving  material  and  is  no- 
tably increasing  in  favor  every  year.  It  is  not  as 
"  noisy"  as  a  stone  pavement,  it  is  less  dusty  than  is  a 
macadamized  roadway,  and  it  is  not  so  utterly  dis- 
agreeable in  so  many  ways  as  is  a  wood  pavement. 
The  most  serious  objection  raised  against  the  brick 
pavement  is  the  difficulty  in  securing  a  uniform  hard- 
ness of  brick.  Whether  or  not  this  objection  can  be 
remedied  remains  to  be  seen.  The  price  per  square 
yard,  laid,  for  brick  pavement  seems  to  hold  a  half-way 
place  between  the  cost  of  stone  and  wood  pavements. 

For  residence  streets  in  a  city  and  suburban  high- 
ways the  Telford-McAdam  pavement,  laid  as  this  pave- 
ment should  be  laid,  is  a  very  desirable  and  a  popular 


THE   STREET  SURFACE. 


a 


I 

1 


3°  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

road  covering  or  pavement.  But  broken  stone  has 
been  so  long  used  in  many  communities  solely  to  fill  a 
bad  mud-hole  or  quagmire  in  a  highway  that  its 
efficiency  and  value  as  a  good  road  covering  are  unde- 
servedly in  low  repute. 

The  road  roller  is  a  necessary  implement  for  good 
work  either  on  pavements  or  highways.  The  roller 
should  be  made  to  weigh  about  three  tons,  with  facili- 
ties for  increasing  the  weight  to  five  or  six  tons,  by 
loading  it  with  some  heavy  material. 

A  good  serviceable  rock-crusher  is  also  a  desirable 
implement  for  a  municipality  to  own  for  the  work  of 
road  or  street  making.  A  crusher  that  will  crush 
about  40  cubic  yards  of  stone  per  day,  with  a  carrier 
attachment  for  taking  the  stone  from  the  crusher  to 
the  wagons,  costs  complete  about  $1000.  A  portable 
engine  to  run  the  crusher  can  be  purchased  or  rented. 
The  cost  per  cubic  yard  for  crushing  stone  is  quoted 
at  from  25  to  50  cents.  The  writer  crushed  during 
one  season  nearly  7000  cubic  yards  of  black  gneiss 
at  a  cost  of  19  cents  per  cubic  yard  delivered  to  the 
wagons.  This  price  included  a  small  royalty  paid  to 
the  owner  of  the  quarry  for  the  stone  used.  It  is  far 
cheaper  to  set  up  the  crusher  in  the  quarry  than  it  is 
to  haul  the  stone  to  the  crusher,  as  is  sometimes  done. 
A  valuable  auxiliary  of  the  stone-crusher  is  the  revolv- 
ing screen  which  separates  the  stone  into  three  differ- 
ent sizes.  The  screen  is  about  10  feet  long  and  3  feet 
diameter  and  is  made  to  revolve  about  twenty  times 
per  minute.  The  screen  is  divided  lengthwise  into 


THE   STREET  SURFACE.  31 

three  sizes  of  mesh :  the  smallest  is  \  inch,  the  next 
large  is  ij  inches,  and  the  largest  is  3  inches.  Un- 
doubtedly the  day  is  soon  coming  when  every  enter- 
prising, well-administered  city  and  town  of  the  smaller 
class  will  be  equipped  with  the  road-roller,  the  stone- 
crusher,  and  revolving  screen,  and  carriage  travel 
within  and  about  these  municipalities  will  be  a  pleasure 
and  not  a  dread  to  the  inhabitants  thereof. 

Regarding  the  cost  of  pavements  per  square  yard,  it 
varies  with  the  locality  where  the  work  is  done.  Un- 
less the  town  or  city  is  located  in  a  region  where  cedar 
grows,  or  good  paving  stone  can  be  quarried,  or  paving 
brick  is  made,  the  cost  of  transportation  will  alone 
make  a  marked  difference  in  the  price.  Limestone 
pavements  have  been  laid  in  the  Northwest  for  $1.40, 
$1.60,  and  $2  per  square  yard  ;  granite  pavements 
for  $2.45  and  $2.80  per  square  yard  ;  cedar  block 
pavement  at  90  cents  to  $1.25  per  square  yard; 
McAdamizing  from  70  cents  to  $1.20  per  square  yard. 
Stone  curb,  4  inches  thickness,  50  to  70  cents  per 
lineal  foot,  set  in  place.  When  pavements  are  laid  on 
a  concrete  base  this  cost  is  additional. 

The  price  for  brick  pavement,  double  thickness  of 
brick  laid,  varies  from  $1.50  to  $2.40  per  square  yard. 

There  is  no  pavement  better  than  a  first-class 
asphaltum  pavement ;  it  combines  all  the  essentials  of 
a  good  pavement  and,  with  the  exception  of  being 
quite  slippery  for  horses,  it  has  none  of  the  objections 
which  other  pavements  possess.  The  price  per  square 
yard  laid  is  from  $3  to  $3.50. 


32  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

We  are  told  that  lumber  is  getting  more  scarce  every 
year  and  consequently  dearer  in  price.  It  will  be 
better  for  all  municipalities  when  lumber  becomes  too 
expensive  to  use  for  sidewalk  and  pavement  material. 
It  is  uncleanly  and  unhealthful,  and  the  sooner  it  is 
banished  from  streets  and  sidewalks  the  better.  Ac- 
cording to  vital  statistics,  the  third  in  rank  of  healthful 
cities  of  the  world  is  Baltimore,  Maryland,  and  this 
city  has  neither  wood  pavements  nor  sidewalks. 


GAS  CONSUMPTION.  33 


GAS  CONSUMPTION. 

IT  is  authoritatively  stated  that  the  street  lamps  in 
cities  consume  about  four  cubic  feet  of  gas  per  hour, 
and  an  ordinary  single-jet  house  burner  will  consume 
from  6  to  8  cubic  feet  of  gas  per  hour.  Haswell  says  : 
"  Internal  lights  require  four  cubic  feet  and  external 
lights  require  five  cubic  feet  per  hour."  Gas-tips  are 
sold  by  dealers  which  are  alleged  to  burn  a  specified 
number  of  cubic  feet  per  hour  and  are  rated  as  "  three- 
foot  burners"  or  "  four-foot  burners."  This  is  an 
empirical  rating  which  rarely  ever  will  withstand  an 
actual  test.  The  consumption  of  gas  per  hour  which 
these  burners  will  consume  is  generally  a  great  deal 
more  than  the  rating  signifies.  The  actual  quantity  of 
gas  a  tip  will  consume  per  hour,  regardless  of  its  rat- 
ing, can  only  be  determined  by  a  test  made  with  the 
tip  itself ;  and  the  test  will  not  always  be  a  true  rating 
for  another  tip  of  the  same  size  and  manufacture. 

The  amount  of  gas  which  any  tip  or  burner  will 
consume  in  one  hour  also  depends  upon  the  pressure 
and  the  specific  gravity  of  the  gas  furnished.  The  fol- 
lowing testimony  by  an  expert  on  this  subject  is  quite 
important. 

The  superintendent  of  the  lighting  of  streets  and 
public  buildings  by  gas  in  the  city  of  New  York  says 


34  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

that  it  is  not  essential  nor  customary  that  the  tips 
used  in  burners  within  the  different  street  lamps  should 
be  of  any  particular  kind,  mark,  or  of  any  uniform  size  ; 
that  the  quantity  of  gas  to  be  furnished  for  street 
lamps  is  not  determined  by  the  size  or  kind  of  tips 
used  in  the  burners,  or  by  the  number  of  the  marks 
or  rings  thereon,  but  by  the  actual  number  of  feet  of 
gas  per  hour  passing  through  the  burners  in  the  lamps 
at  the  place  where  the  same  is  located.  That  the 
amount  of  gas  consumed  by  any  burner  depends  not 
only  on  the  kind  and  size  used  thereon,  but  also  on  the 
pressure  at  the  particular  place  where  the  street  lamp 
is  stationed,  and  also  on  the  kind  and  specific  gravity 
of  the  gas  furnished. 


STREET  LIGHTING.  35 


STREET  LIGHTING. 

UNQUESTIONABLY  the  best  modern  illuminant  for 
streets  is  the  electric  arc  light,  each  lamp  being  not  less 
than  2OOO-candle  power.  Many  object  to  it  solely  on 
account  of  its  brilliancy,  yet  that  is  its  chief  value 
as  a  street  light.  When  the  arc  light  is  enclosed  in 
an  opaque  glass  globe  its  extreme  brightness  is  so 
modified  that  the  glare  is  less  blinding  to  the  eye. 
Sometimes  these  lights  are  hung  extremely  high,  any- 
where from  60  to  100  feet  elevation  above  the  street. 
To  obtain  the  best  illuminating  effect  they  should 
never  be  hung  more  than  twenty-five  feet  above  the 
ground ;  then  the  reflection  from  the  buildings  on  the 
street  gives  additional  light.  When  the  lamps  are 
hung  very  high,  higher  than  the  buildings,  their  light 
falls  upon  the  roofs,  and  the  street  surface  receives 
all  the  shadows.  Where  the  foliage  of  shade  trees 
is  very  heavy  and  spreading,  as  it  often  is  on  residence 
streets,  it  will  be  found  that  the  lights  will  give  better 
results  if  hung  at  an  elevation  of  about  eighteen  or 
twenty  feet  than  if  hung  higher. 

The  incandescent  system  is  not  suitable  for  street 
lighting ;  it  is  not  powerful  enough,  and  not  much  bet- 


$6  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

ter  than  the  gas  lamp,  especially  where  the  foliage  of 
trees  is  heavy  and  spreading.  To  give  as  good  an 
illuminating  effect  as  the  gas  lamp  will  upon  the  street 
surface  it  must  be  hung  quite  low — lower  than  is  re- 
quired for  the  arc  system. 

To  know  that  a  company  is  furnishing  electric  lights 
of  the  required  candle  power,  the  city  should  employ 
an  expert  to  make  tests  from  time  to  time,  and  the 
company  notified  of  delinquencies  in  this  respect. 
Where  such  tests  are  not  made  there  is  a  tendency  to- 
wards diminution  of  the  strength  of  the  lights  which  is 
sometimes  quite  apparent. 

The  annual  cost  of  electric  lighting  varies  with  the 
conditions  required.  Where  the  lights  are  required 
to  burn  from  sunset  to  daybreak  they  cost  each  (arc 
system)  from  $100  to  $125  per  year,  according  to  the 
number  installed.  WThere  they  burn  from  sunset  to 
midnight  they  cost  each  from  $70  to  $80  per  year,  de- 
pending upon  the  number  installed.  A  plant  having 
200  lights  can  afford  a  lower  rate  than  one  having  only 
80  or  100  lights  installed. 

The  incandescent  is  cheaper  than  the  arc  light,  but 
more  lamps  are  required  for  the  same  street  area. 


STREET  LIGHTING. 


37 


Yearly  Table  for  Street  Lighting ;  showing  the  Number 

of  Hours  from  Sunset  to  1 2  o'clock  Midnight,  for 

each  Month  in  the  Year. 


Month. 

Total  per  Month. 

Average  per  Night. 

136  h 
145 
150 
161 
162 

175 
189 
188 

202 
2IO 
225 
230 

-s.  55  m 
52 
38 
16 

47 
24 
06 
59 
41 
35 
16 

25 

n. 

4h 
4 
4 
5 
5 
5 
6 
6 
6 
7 
7 
7 

rs.  34  m 
42 
5i 

12 

25 

51 
06 

45 
32 
n 

29 

38 

in. 

July  

May       

A  pril                       

September  

March  

February        . 

October              

This  table  may  be  used  for  either  gas  or  electric  lighting. 


38  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 


STREET    GRADES. 

PERHAPS  there  is  no  other  municipal  improvement 
that  will  raise  a  longer  and  louder  blast  of  indig- 
nation from  property  owners  than  the  grading  of  a 
street.  When  such  a  job  is  under  way  the  alderman 
who  began  it  most  generally  wishes  before  the  work  is 
finished  that  either  himself  or  that  particular  street 
had  never  existed ;  while  the  vocabulary  of  names 
having  reference  to  imbeciles  and  other  persons  with 
little  or  no  minds  is  exhausted,  and  poured  upon  the 
head  of  the  city  engineer.  To  the  average  property 
owner  a  street  consists  of  an  area  of  land  embracing  the 
frontage  of  his  own  property.  He  does  not  care  par- 
ticularly for  any  other  portion  of  the  street,  as  long  as 
he  is  permitted  to  make  good  drainage  on  his  own 
front  and  allow  the  water  to  pass  on  for  some  other 
property  owner,  located  on  lower  ground,  to  care  for. 

The  principal  cause  of  the  trouble  which  arises  from 
grading  a  street  in  most  towns  and  cities  is  that  the 
blocks  have  been  built  upon  and  sidewalks  laid  about 
them  ever  since  the  settlement  of  the  country,  without 
street  grades  and  drainage  having  been  previously 
provided  or  established.  Perhaps  a  few  grades  have 
been  established  in  the  business  part  of  the  city,  but 


T^ 

STREET  GRADES.  39 

t 
the  larger  area  has  been  built  up  without  them,  every 

property  owner  erecting  his  building  according  to 
his  own  inclinations.  Trees  have  been  planted  and 
have  thrived  handsomely,  located  not  only  on  the  curb 
line,  but  outside  as  well  as  inside  of  it.-  For  years  the 
streets  have  been  under  the  care  of  successive  street 
commissioners  who  have  scraped,  ditched,  guttered, 
and  graded  them  to  suit  the  notions  of  many  property 
owners.  When  the  time  comes  for  the  improvement 
of  the  streets,  to  secure  good  drainage  so  that  there 
will  be  no  excessive  concentration  of  storm-water  at 
any  particular  place ;  when  water-works,  sewerage, 
paving  and  macadam  are  introduced ;  when  street 
grades  are  established  and  profiles  of  surfaces  and 
grades  are  made  and  placed  on  file  in  the  city  hall — it 
is  about  this  time  that  the  air  becomes  turbulent  whh 
muttered  imprecations  and  threatened  suits  at  law 
against  the  city  for  damage  to  property,  and  at  the 
next  municipal  election  a  strong  cabal  is  formed  to  de- 
feat the  re-election  of  the  offending  alderman,  and  a 
successor  to  the  city  engineer  is  sought  for — one  who 
will  ignore  the  established  grades  and  respect  the  old- 
time  condition  of  things. 

A  street  is  graded  for  several  reasons.  One  reason 
is  to  make  good  drainage  and  take  care  of  the  flowing 
water  without  its  damaging  any  private  property.  The 
grading  of  a  street  in  most  instances  means  a  more 
rapid  concentration  of  storm-water  as  a  result.  In 
many  cases  streets  are  graded  not  only  to  place 
them  in  a  better  condition  for  travel  during  wet  sea- 


4O  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

sons,  but  to  reduce  grades  and  thereby  facilitate  traffic 
upon  them.  And  there  is  an  aesthetic  reason  which  is 
appreciated  by  every  one,  for  we  all  admire  a  hand- 
some street.  When  a  street  is  graded  and  all  the 
considerations  are  judiciously  carried  out,  the  property 
located  thereon  is  not  damaged,  on  the  contrary  it  is 
very  much  improved  and  the  assessments  for  the  work 
are  in  the  nature  of  benefits,  as  they  should  be. 

Where  buildings  have  been  erected  years  before  the 
street  grades  were  established  and  the  later  grading 
of  the  street  puts  them  above  or  below  grade,  there 
is  no  alternative  for  the  owners  but  to  conform  to 
the  new  order  of  things ;  and  if  they  deem  this  a 
hardship  and  an  expensive  matter,  there  is  visible 
evidence  existing  for  a  jury  to  see  and  decide  how 
much  compensation  they  are  entitled  to  because  of 
the  change  of  street  surface. 

The  stranger  visiting  a  city  for  the  first  time  does 
not  always  remember  the  handsome  buildings  it  may 
have ;  but  if  its  streets  are  execrable  he  never  forgets 
them,  and  if  the  streets  are  handsomely  improved  he 
will  ever  after  speak  of  that  city  in  a  praiseworthy 
manner. 

The  sidewalks  on  a  business  street  should  be  fifteen 
feet  wide ;  if  the  street  is  sixty  feet  wide  this  will  leave 
a  roadway  for  vehicles  thirty  feet  wide.  When  the 
business  streets  are  but  sixty  feet  wide  two  street-car 
tracks  should  not  be  allowed  upon  them  if  there  is 
nothing  to  prevent  a  return  track  being  laid  upon 
another  parallel  street,  If  two  tracks  upon  one  street 


STREET  GRADES.  41 

are  a  necessity,  then  the  width  of  sidewalks  should  be 
reduced  to  twelve  feet. 

On  residence  streets  the  sidewalks  can  be  held  to  the 
width  of  fifteen  feet  without  detriment  to  roadway 
travel.  The  footway  proper  can  be  made  seven  feet 
wide,  leaving  eight  feet  width  for  a  grass-plat  and  the 
curb  ;  this  width  and  arrangement  is  not  only  an  orna- 
ment to  the  street,  but  reduces  the  paved  area  of  the 
roadway. 

The  cities  of  our  Northern  States  require  deeper  gut- 
ters than  those  of  the  Middle  and  Southern  States, 
because  the  snow  and  ice  in  winter  compact  upon  the 
street  surfaces  to  a  depth  of  six  or  more  inches,  and 
when  a  thaw  comes  the  flowing  slush  will  flood  the 
sidewalks  if  the  curbstones  are  set  too  low.  In  this  case 
the  surface  elevation  of  the  curb  should  be  six  inches 
above  the  crown  of  the  street,  and  when  paved  the  grade 
of  the  gutter  should  be  eight  inches  below  the  crown 
of  the  street ;  this  gives  a  depth  of  gutter  at  the  curb- 
stone of  fourteen  inches.  Ordinarily  the  surface  ele- 
vation is  the  same  as  the  centre  of  the  street. 

For  a  macadam  roadway  thirty-four  feet  wide  the 
crown  of  the  street  should  be  fifteen  inches  higher 
than  the  gutter. 

On  comparatively  level  streets  the  intersections 
should  be  made  level.  Where  the  grades  are  quite 
steep,  crossing  streets  which  are  level  (or  nearly  so), 
the  down-hill  side  of  the  intersection  should  be  made 
from  eight  to  twelve  inches  lower  than  the  up-hill 
side ;  otherwise  there  will  be  a  bad  pitch  on  the  cross 


42  MUNICIPAL   IMPROVEMENTS. 

street  from  the  lower  crossing.  Change  or  break  the 
grades  of  streets  at  the  intersections  where  possible  to 
do  so.  Where  this  is  done  the  streets  present  a  much 
better  appearance  than  if  grades  are  changed  midway 
between  streets.  Require  all  property  owners  on  a 
street  to  make  water  and  sewer  connections  before  the 
work  of  paving  begins,  and  thus  save  the  pavement 
from  future  destruction;  otherwise  it  will  be  cut  up 
continually  to  make  these  connections,  and  none  will 
regret  such  work  more  than  the  property  owners  on 
the  street. 


A    WATER-WORKS  SYSTEM.  43 


A   WATER-WORKS    SYSTEM. 

THE  advantages  of  a  well-built  and  efficient  system 
of  water-works  to  any  community  are  obvious  ;  its 
chief  requisite  being  a  plentiful  supply  of  good,  whole- 
some water  at  all  times  and  for  all  reasonable  purposes. 

The  water  supplied  should  be,  if  obtainable,  free  from 
objectionable  and  mineral  matter ;  not  too  hard,  that 
is,  not  impregnated  with  lime  or  its  constituents  to 
that  degree  which  renders  it  unfit  for  steam,  laundry, 
and  many  manufacturing  purposes.  If  a  water  supply 
is  thus  rendered  unfit  for  all  general  uses,  its  sale  to 
consumers  is  just  that  much  limited  and  the  income 
from  the  sale  of  water  is  thereby  curtailed.  Often- 
times a  citizen  of  a  town  or  city  will  say,  when  the 
question  of  building  a  system  of  water-works  is  dis- 
cussed, "  Oh,  we  only  want  a  small  system  to  supply 
us  with  water  for  cooking  and  drinking."  That  citizen 
has  to  learn  that  the  sale  of  water  for  such  purposes 
only  will  not  pay  the  cost  of  operating  a  plant,  and  the 
deficiency  of  income  to  meet  operating  expenses  must 
come  from  a  general  tax  levy.  The  works  should  be 
built  upon  the  broad  plan  of  supplying  water  in 
quantity  and  quality  desirable  and  suitable  for  all 
general  purposes — a  truly  commercial  water — with  the 
intention  of  selling  every  gallon  possible.  Of  course 


44  MUNICIPAL   IMPROVEMENTS. 

not  all  sections  of  the  country  are  favored  with  water 
of  this  kind  and  excellence,  and  the  best  water  obtain- 
able in  one  section  would  be  rejected  with  disdain  by 
a  community  of  a  more  favored  section. 

There  are  some  sections  of  the  country  where  the 
artesian  wells  supply  an  abundance  of  the  best  quality 
of  water  good  for  all  purposes,  and  there  are  other 
sections  where  artesian  wells  are  not  only  a  very  un- 
reliable source  of  supply,  but  the  water  from  them  is 
very  objectionable  for  any  use  but  the  extinguishment 
of  fires— provided  that  enough  of  it  can  be  had  when 
wanted  for  this  purpose.  As  a  rule  the  artesian  well 
as  a  source  of  supply  is  out  of  the  question  when  con- 
sidering a  sufficient  supply  for  a  town  or  city  of  any 
considerable  size  or  population. 

An  artesian  well  that  will  discharge  100  gallons  per 
minute  is  a  rarity;  many  of  them  discharge  only  18 
to  30  gallons  per  minute.  A  discharge  of  100  gallons 
per  minute  is  but  144,000  gallons  per  day,  and  this 
quantity  is  a  meagre  supply  for  an  ordinary,  sized 
village.  This  quantity  of  water  does  not  afford  even 
fire  protection,  for  there  is  but  6000  gallons  per  hour 
available,  and  two  fairly  good  fire-streams  require, 
each,  160  gallons  of  water  per  minute,  which  in  the 
aggregate  amounts  to  a  discharge  equal  to  9600  gallons 
per  hour.  The  artesian  well  fulfils  its  mission  in  those 
localities  where  there  is  no  other  supply  obtainable. 

The  source  of  supply  should  be  located,  where  pos- 
sible to  do  so,  where  there  will  be  no  danger  of  future 
contamination,  and  to  make  such  assurance  sure  the 


A    WATER-WORKS  SYSTEM.  45 

location  and  outfall  of  the  main  sewerage  of  a  town  or 
city  should  be  considered  at  the  same  time  that  the 
water-works  system  is  planned.     Lay  no  pipe  in  the 
streets  less  than   six  inches  internal  diameter.     Only 
one  efficient  fire  stream  can  be  had  from  a  four-inch 
water-pipe,  and   only  single-nozzled   hydrants  can   be 
placed  on  such  a  diminutive  pipe-line.     A  cast-iron  six- 
inch  diameter  pipe,  well  laid  in  the  ground  ready  for 
use,  costs  40  per  cent  less  per  lineal  foot,  so  laid,  than 
does  good  rubber  hose  per  lineal  foot ;  one  double- 
nozzled  hydrant  set  in  place  ready  for  use  costs  about 
$30 — showing  that  cast-iron  pipe  and  hydrants  are  a 
cheaper  fire  protection  than  is  the  best  rubber  hose. 
Yet  the  rubber  hose  must  be  kept  on  hand  whether  or 
not  a  city  has  a  water-works  system,  but  not  so  many 
lineal  feet  are  required  to  be  kept  on  hand.     The  fire 
department    of   a   city   without   water-works   is   com- 
pelled to  use  long  lengths  of  hose  to  each  pipe-nozzle 
because  of  the  remoteness  of  the  water  supply,  using 
lengths   varying  from  800  to   1200  feet,  while  a  city 
having  water-works,  and  hydrants  located  at  alternate 
blocks,  seldom  uses  more  than  300  feet  of  hose  to  a  pipe- 
nozzle  and  more  often  only  100  or   150  feet  of  hose, 
thus  supplying  from  four  to  eight  streams  from  the 
same  length  of  hose  which  in  the  first  instance  supplied 
but  one  stream,  and  a  weak  stream  at  that ;  for  the  pres- 
sure loss  when  rapidly  conveying  water  through  1000 
feet  of  hose  is  very  considerable,  and  the  pressure  is 
so  great  that  there  is  usually  a  heavy  loss  in  bursted 
hose  at  every  fire  where  long  lengths  are  used.     A 


46  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

certain  city  having  a  population  of  about  7000  keeps 
for  use  about  30  per  cent  more  hose  than  a  neighbor- 
ing one  does  having  a  population  of  20,000  and 
equipped  with  a  water-works  system. 

A  good  cast-iron  water-pipe  thoroughly  coated  with 
iron  varnish  and  well  laid  in  the  ground,  has  a  dura- 
bility that  is  practically  unknown  to-day,  while  the 
durability  of  the  best  quality  of  rubber  hose  is  scarcely 
more  than  four  years.  A  well  varnished  cast-iron  pipe 
does  not  decompose  in  the  ground  unless  there  are 
deleterious  gases  or  chemicals  in  the  soil  about  it. 

The  water-pipe  throughout  a  system  should  be  am- 
ply large  to  ensure  sufficient  fire  pressures  at  all  the 
hydrants  of  the  system.  In  cities  with  a  population  of 
30,000  or  less  the  system  should  be  so  planned  that  no 
steam  fire-engines  need  be  used  for  the  extinguishment 
of  fires.  The  pressure  at  the  hydrant  should  be  such 
that  with  the  aid  of  the  hose  efficient  fire-streams  can 
be  thrown  upon  a  burning  structure  with  satisfactory 
results  and  without  the  aid  of  a  fire-engine.  There  are 
several  cities  in  the  Northwest  where  fire-streams  are 
thus  used  and  the  fire-engines,  purchased  before  the 
water-works  were  built,  have  never  been  taken  from 
the  engine-house  to  serve  at  a  fire,  although  five  or 
more  years  have  elapsed  since  the  water-works  were 
built ;  in  the  meantime  quite  large  fires  have  occurred 
in  these  cities,  which  were  combated  successfully  by 
the  firemen  with  hose  attached  to  the  hydrants. 

A  city  having  a  population  of  about  5000  pays 
usually  an  annual  hydrant  rental  of  about  $4000.  To 


A    WATER-WORKS  SYSTEM.  47 

maintain  a  fire  department  equipped  with  steam  fire- 
engines  would  be  an  additional  expense  of  $2500  or 
$3000  unless  the  water-works  system  was  properly 
planned  so  as  to  afford  ample  hydrant  pressures,  when 
two-horse  hose-carts  would  be  the  most  expensive 
equipment  needed. 

Where  a  city  depends  upon  its  fire-engines  and  not 
its  hydrants  for  streams,  the  number  of  streams  avail- 
able at  a  fire  is  the  number  which  the  steam  fire-en- 
gines can  throw.  With  adequate  pressures  at  all  hy- 
drants, the  limit  to  the  number  of  streams  which  can  be 
thrown  will  be  the  number  of  hydrants  available  in  the 
locality  of  the  fire ;  and  if  some  of  the  hydrants  used  are 
located  upon  the  larger  pipe  of  the  system,  then  the 
double-nozzle  hydrants  will  also  furnish  a  much  greater 
number.  Where  a  planing-mill  or  other  wood  factory 
takes  fire  and  a  high  wind  prevails  at  the  time,  many 
streams  are  required  to  prevent  the  fire  spreading  to 
localities  outside  of  the  course  or  route  taken  by  the 
conflagration :  these  incipient  fires  are  caused  from 
flying  brands  carried  among  the  buildings  by  the  pre- 
vailing wind,  and  unless  extinguished  at  once  the  de- 
vastation is  widespread,  and  the  fire  loss  will  be  im- 
mensely greater.  Instances  of  this  kind  have  occurred 
in  this  country  where  from  thirty  to  forty  streams 
were  necessary  to  prevent  a  conflagration  from  becom- 
ing widespread.  It  is  a  very  large  city  that  is  equipped 
with  twelve  steam  fire-engines,  and  none  of  our  cities, 
having  a  greater  or  less  number  of  fire-engines,  depend 
upon  hydrant  pressures  for  fire-streams.  The  real 


43  MUNICIPAL   IMPROVEMENTS. 

reason  why  cities  as  a  rule  do  not  provide  adequate 
fire  pressures  at  hydrants,  and  maintain  instead  large 
and  expensive  fire-department  machinery,  is  the  false 
economy  of  laying  small  pipe.  Outside  of  the  fire  de- 
partment and  the  engineering  staff  of  a  city,  the  value 
of  pipe,  pumps,  and  water  of  generous  measure  and 
capacity  is  not  generally  appreciated,  nor  are  they  ex- 
tensively provided.*  The  experienced  fireman  will  say, 
if  asked  to  name  the  conditions  which  make  an  efficient 
fire-stream  :  a  stream  of  water  forced  through  200  or 
250  feet  of  two  and  one-half  inch  rubber  hose,  with  a 
smooth  nozzle  not  less  than  one  and  one-eighth  inches 
diameter  and  a  pressure  at  the  hydrant  of  not  less 
than  sixty  pounds,  such  pressure  and  streams  throw 
185  gallons  of  water  per  minute,  to  an  elevation  of  74 
feet.  Yet  this  fireman  is  giving  almost  minimum  con- 
ditions ;  he  would  undoubtedly  prefer  a  smooth  nozzle 
one  and  one-fourth  inches  diameter  and  eighty  pounds 
pressure  at  the  hydrant,  which  would  discharge  239 


*  At  the  great  fire  in  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  October  28,  1892,  there 
were  available  in  the  city  eighteen  steam  fire-engines  and  a  steam 
fire-tug  on  the  river  with  a  capacity  of  eighteen  streams  more,  although 
not  all  available  at  one  time.  The  city  made  a  call  upon  neighboring 
cities  for  help,  and  fire-engines  came  from  Chicago  and  intervening 
cities  to  the  number  of  eight.  A  very  high  wind  prevailed  at  the  time 
of  the  fire,  and  the  area  burnt  over  had  been  previously  covered  with 
old-time,  cheaply  built,  wooden-houses,  with  some  few  factories  and 
buildings  of  the  better  class  among  them.  The  hydrant  pressures  alone 
were  not  sufficient  to  furnish  fire-streams.  The  sole  dependence  of 
Milwaukee  was  her  eighteen  fire  engines  and  the  steam  fire-tug. 


A    WATER-WORKS  SYSTEM.  49 

gallons  per  minute  to  an  elevation  of  80  feet.  These 
streams  would  be,  at  the  heights  specified,  solid  col- 
umns of  water,  not  sprays  of  water  which  spread  in 
mid-air  and  feed  the  flames.  The  average  pressure 
maintained  by  steam  fire-engines  at  work  is,  for  steam, 
100  pounds  per  square  inch  and  from  130  to  160 
pounds  water  pressure.  Oftentimes  even  greater  pres- 
sures are  used.* 

If  all  cities  of  the  larger  growth  could  be  divided 
into  prescribed  areas,  with  lines  of  large  pipe  well 
stocked  with  hydrants  to  a  reasonable  number,  such 
pipe  lines  would  afford  a  more  practical  and  safer  bar- 
rier against  the  sweeping  conflagrations  which  often- 
times devastate  large  districts  than  anything  that  has 
yet  been  done  in  our  American  cities  to  check  such 
fires.  The  best  conditions  of  water-works  construc- 
tion, combined  with  the  best  principles  of  fire-resisting 
construction,  must  be  observed  and  practised  in  our 
larger  cities  if  we  would  save  them  from  the  great  de- 
structive fires  which  are  nowadays  a  quite  common 
occurrence.  In  our  large  cities,  where  the  popu- 
lation is  more  dense,  where  the  daily  domestic  and 
factory  consumption  of  water  is  great  and  the  busi- 


*  While  advocating  the  use  of  large  pipe  and  heavy  pressures,  the 
writer  does  not  mean  to  convey  the  idea  that  our  larger  cities  can 
dispense  with  the  steam  fire-engine  ;  the  prevalence  of  tall  buildings 
and  the  modern  sky-scraper  building  not  only  demands  their  reten- 
tion, but  also  requires  engines  of  larger  capacity  than  those  now  built 
and  used. 


SO  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

ness  blocks  are  very  tall,  the  standpipe  loses  its 
utility  as  a  reservoir,  and  its  static  pressure  is  of  little 
avail ;  in  such  instances  the  supply  and  pressure  for 
all  purposes  must  come  from  the  pump  direct,  and 
steam  fire-engines  must  be  employed  to  take  the  water 
from  the  hydrant  and  throw  it  upon  the  burning  struc- 
ture. For  cities  of  the  second  and  third  class  the 
standpipe  is  a  great  economical  factor  in  the  operation 
of  a  system,  and  a  valuable  adjunct  to  its  utility.  It 
saves  the  cost  of  steady  pumping  day  and  night, 
including  the  labor  of  a  night  engineer  and  fireman  and 
the  fuel  they  would  burn  during  their  hours  of  duty. 
The  stand-pipe  affords  a  steady  static  pressure  at  all 
times,  and  provides  a  large  supply  of  stored  water, 
which  by  its  altitude  is  available  at  once  for  the  extin- 
guishment of  fires.  To  say  that  this  use  of  water  is  not 
possible  or  practicable  because  the  engineer  might 
neglect  to  keep  the  standpipe  filled  is  tantamount  to 
saying  that  railway  trains  cannot  be  run  on  time  because 
the  engineer  might  fail  to  keep  up  steam :  a  pressure 
gauge  or  an  Edison  recording  gauge,  posted  in  the 
office  of  the  mayor,  or  of  the  chief  of  the  city  fire 
department,  will  tell  at  a  glance  whether  or  not  the 
tank  is  full  and  the  engineer  attending  to  his  duties. 
The  great  utility  and  economy  of  the  standpipe  is  rec- 
ognized wherever  it  is  used. 

The  largest  standpipes  built  in  this  country  are  20 
and  25  feet  diameter,  with  tank  100  feet  and  more  in 
height.  The  extreme  height  is  in  many  instances  in- 
creased by  placing  the  tank  on  a  brick  or  masonry 


A    WATER-WORKS  SYSTEM. 


$2  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

tower  varying  from  50  to  100  feet  high ;  the  static 
pressure  desired  determines  the  total  height.  Where 
a  high  elevation  of  land  exists  near  a  city  the  total 
height  of  standpipe  can  be  materially  lessened  by  plac- 
ing it  upon  such  elevation.  Where  a  standpipe  is  in- 
corporated in  a  system  of  water-works,  the  engineer's 
duty  is  to  keep  it  full ;  his  pressure  gauge  placed  in 
the  pump-room  will  show  him  at  all  times  what  the 
elevation  of  water  is  in  the  tank.  In  most  instances 
the  tank  is  kept  full  by  pumping  only  morning  and 
evening  and  during  a  conflagration ;  where  there  is  a 
great  constant  demand  for  water  during  the  day,  as  is 
the  case  in  a  manufacturing  city,  the  engineer  must 
pump  at  noon  as  well  as  morning  and  night.  The  in- 
tervals at  which  the  pumps  remain  idle  depend  upon 
the  capacity  of  the  standpipe  and  the  hourly  consump- 
tion of  water.  The  standpipe  was  first  designed  to 
afford  relief  to  the  pumps  and  protection  to  the  pipe 
system  from  injury  by  "  water-hammer,"  but  of  late 
years  it  has  been  increased  in  size  and  become  utilized 
as  a  storage  reservoir ;  thus  in  the  modern  water-works 
system  it  serves  a  twofold  purpose. 

The  earlier  settlers  of  the  West  voted  money  quite 
lavishly  to  secure  railway  facilities,  and  they  handed 
down  to  the  present  generation  in  many  localities  some 
heavy  bonded  debts.  The  effect  of  these  debts  upon 
the  present  generation  is  that  they  have  a  very  great 
dread — it  may  be  said,  an  unreasonable  dread — of  any 
and  all  public  improvements  which  cannot  be  built 
without  an  issue  of  bonds  whereby  to  provide  the  nee- 


A    WATER-WORKS  SYSTEM.  53 

essary  funds.  Consequently  there  are  numerous  towns 
and  cities  in  the  West  to-day  without  water-works,  sew- 
erage, improved  or  paved  streets.  Yet  the  denizens 
of  such  towns  and  cities  have  lived  on  the  same  spot, 
the  same  ground,  using  water  from  the  same  old  well, 
and  casting  all  manner  of  filth  upon  the  same  ground 
as  they  have  continued  to  do  for  the  past  forty  and  in 
some  instances  sixty  years,  yet  will  persistently  vote 
down  any  proposition  which  will  secure  them  a  water- 
works or  a  sewerage  system  upon  very  favorable  terms. 
In  nearly  every  instance  it  is  noticeable  how  rapidly 
a  small  city  thrives  and  grows  in  wealth  and  popula- 
tion when  it  has  in  operation  a  water-works  and  sew- 
erage system.  In  a  few  years  the  increased  wealth 
contributes  a  tax  levy  to  the  municipal  treasury  greater 
than  the  annual  outlay  which  the  improvements  cost 
the  taxpayers.  A  good  water-works  system  costs  the 
consumer  (the  taxpayer)  but  very  little ;  if  he  pays  a 
water  rate  of  $6  per  year  for  one  faucet  in  the  kitchen, 
he  gets  all  the  good  water  the  household  needs  for  the 
sum  of  one  and  two-thirds  cents  per  diem.  This  sum 
is  less  than  it  costs  to  maintain  a  pump,  and  the  faucet 
supply  is  vastly  more  convenient  to  the  household 
than  a  pump  ever  could  be. 

Items  from  the  Report  of  the  Superintendent  of  Water- 
works, Madison,  Wis.,for  the  Year  1891-2. 

Population,  13,246. 

Total  number  of  water  takers,  1405. 

Greatest  number  of  gallons  pumped  per  day,  925,000. 


54  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

Smallest  number  of  gallons  pumped  per  day,  375,000. 
Number  of  gallons  pumped  per  pound  of  coal,  189^. 
Number  gallons  of  pumped  for  one  cent  of  fuel,  924. 
Average  head  pumped  in  feet,  214. 
Total  number  of  tons  of  coal  consumed  during  the 
year,  522. 

Cost  of  coal  during  the  year,  $2140.20. 
Receipts  for  the  year  were  $15,372.26. 
Operating  expenses  were  $7564.25. 
The  system  is  direct  pressure. 

Cost  of  Operating  a  Water-works  System  and  Collecting 
its  Revenues.     Taxes  not  included* 

For  a  city  with  a  population  of    10,000,  standpipe 
system : 

Superintendent $1,000  oo 

Engineer 600  oo 

Fireman  (and  other  duties) 360  oo 

Fuel,  oil,  waste,  etc 1,000  oo 

Repairs,  etc 300  oo 

Annual  cost $3,260  oo 

For  a  city  with  2000  population,  standpipe  system  : 

Supterintendent  and  engineer $700  oo 

Fireman  and  helper 300  oo 

Fuel,  oil,  and  waste 500  oo 

Annual  cost $1,500  oo 

City  clerk  collects  the  revenues. 


A    WATER-WOKKS  SYSTEM.  55 

In  most  instances  the  cost  of  maintaining  a  horse 
and  wagon  should  be  included  in  the  annual  expenses. 
It  is  difficult  to  obtain  exact  figures  of  cost  of  operat- 
ing a  plant.  The  water  companies  decline  to  furnish 
such  data.  Water-works  accounts  of  the  smaller  cities 
are  not  as  a  rule  kept  in  a  classified  form  available  for 
such  showing. 

The  foregoing  statements  are  taken  from  cities 
where  the  standpipe  is  used  ;  where  no  standpipe  is 
used  and  the  daily  pressure  is  furnished  directly  from 
the  pumps,  the  cost  of  operating  expenses  is  increased 
very  largely.  In  the  smaller  cities  the  employees  in 
the  water  department  have  sometimes  other  duties  to 
perform  outside  of  the  water  department,  and  instead 
of  the  superintendent  of  the  works  caring  for  its  reve- 
nues, the  city  clerk  is  appointed  to  do  so.  It  is  be- 
cause of  these  complicated  duties  of  water-work 
employees  in  the  smaller  cities  that  exact  items  of  the 
cost  of  operating  the  works  cannot  be  readily  ob- 
tained. 

Where  water  is  supplied  to  a  city  under  a  franchise 
by  a  private  company,  the  city  pays  an  annual  rental 
at  such  price  as  may  be  agreed  upon  between  the  city 
and  the  water  company  when  the  franchise  is  granted. 
This  sum  varies  considerably.  The  water  companies 
that  supply  by  direct  pressure  (without  a  standpipe) 
usually  charge  more  hydrant  rental  than  those  that 
build  the  combined  system  (that  is,  furnishing  both 
pump  and  standpipe  pressures,  as  may  be  called  for 
from  time  to  time).  The  usual  price  per  hydrant  is 


56  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

from  $45  to  $50  annually,  and  $30  to  $35  annually  for 
all  additional  hydrants  located  on  future  extensions  of 
the  pipe  system.  One  city  in  the  West  is  paying  an 
annual  hydrant  rental  of  $70,  another  $68,  and  a  third 
pays  $60.  All  three  cities  are  supplied  with  water  by 
direct  or  continuous  pumping.  These  rates  are  con- 
siderably higher  than  are  paid  by  cities  having  a  com- 
bined system,  both  pump  and  standpipe. 

A  standpipe  16  feet  in  diameter,  50  feet  high,  con- 
taining 75,375  gallons  of  water,  if  placed  upon  a  masonry 
tower  50  feet  high  will,  when  full,  afford  a  static  pres- 
sure of  43  pounds  per  square  inch. 

A  standpipe  18  feet  diameter,  60  feet  high,  contain- 
ing 114,510  gallons  of  water,  if  placed  upon  a  masonry 
tower  60  feet  high  will,  when  full,  afford  a  static  pres- 
sure of  50  pounds  per  square  inch. 

A  standpipe  20  feet  diameter,  80  feet  high,  contain- 
ing 188,480  gallons  of  water,  if  placed  upon  a  tower  70 
feet  high  will,  when  full,  afford  a  static  pressure  of  65 
pounds  per  square  inch. 

A  standpipe — steel  tank  with  masonry  or  brick  tower 
—costs  to  erect  from  $6000  to  $16,000,  if  plainly  con- 
structed ;  if  the  design  is  ornamental  and  much  cut 
stone  is  used  in  its  construction,  or  an  expensive  founda- 
tion is  to  be  prepared,  then  the  cost  is  materially  in- 
creased ;  but  a  large  number  of  the  standpipes  in  use 
throughout  the  country  cost  from  $6000  to  $10,000;  a 
variation  in  the  dimensions  and  capacity  affecting  the 
price. 

The  tower  may  be  built  of  shape  iron,  brick,  rubble 


A    WATER-WORKS  SYSTEM.  57 

or  ashlar  masonry.  Whatever  material  is  used  should 
be  of  the  best  and  the  workmanship  first-class,  for  the 
weight  to  be  sustained  is  a  heavy  one  and  the  tower 
as  a  whole  structure  is  subjected  to  great  wind-strains. 

When  setting  the  pumps,  keep  them  well  down  to 
the  water  level  in  the  well.  A  lo-foot  lift  (suction)  is 
an  economical  one  ;  an  8-foot  lift  is  even  better. 

Use  a  duplex  compound  pump  and  condenser  of 
some  reputable  make,  and  thus  help  to  keep  operating 
expenses  within  reasonable  limits. 

If  the  water  supply  will  permit  it,  locate  the  pump- 
ing station  as  near  as  practicable  to  the  business 
centre,  where  exist  the  vital  interests  of  a  city ;  then 
the  power  to  supply  water  is  where  the  most  water 
is  likely  to  be  required ;  it  is  also  where  the  greatest 
need  exists  for  protection  against  fire.  If  a  city  is 
divided  by  a  stream,  have  more  than  one  pipe  crossing 
the  stream  and  place  the  pumping  station  on  one  side 
of  the  river,  the  water-tower  upon  the  other.  In  many 
cities  the  water-tower  and  the  pumping  station  are  thus 
separated  for  a  distance  of  more  than  a  mile.  By  means 
of  an  electric  connection  between  the  two  structures, 
the  engineer  at  the  pumping  stations  can,  by  pressing 
a  button  in  the  wall  of  the  pump-room,  close  the  valve 
in  the  water-tower  and  thus  disconnect  it  from  the 
pipe  system  and  give  direct  pump  pressure  whenever 
called  upon  to  do  so.  Use  plenty  of  gates  or  valves 
in  the  pipe  system,  so  that  if  a  break  in  a  pipe,  occurs, 
or  a  hydrant  is  to  be  removed  for  repairs,  only  a  small 
section  of  the  pipe  system  need  be  deprived  of  water 


58  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

while  the  repairs  are  being  made.  In  the  business 
part  of  a  city  it  is  better  to  place  a  gate  on  the  (pipe) 
hydrant  connection,  between  the  hydrant  and  the 
street  main  ;  then  a  hydrant  can  always  be  removed  or 
repaired  without  interrupting  the  flow  of  water  in  the 
street  mains. 

Never  be  parsimonious  in  the  furnishings  of  a  water- 
works system  :  if  such  extreme  policy  be  followed 
it  will  be  found,  after  the  works  are  completed, 
that  there  are  several  omissions  in  their  construction 
which  must  be  supplied,  and  at  much  greater  cost 
than  if  adopted  at  the  outset,  as  they  should  be. 
The  careful  engineer  will  provide  for  many  things 
which  to  the  novice  seem  of  minor  importance ;  but 
the  engineer  is  a  man  who  obtains  a  livelihood  by 
spending  other  people's  money  ;  so  the  purse-strings 
are  drawn  tightly  on  him,  and  later  on  some  one  else 
supplies  the  deficiencies  at  a  greater  cost  and  nothing 
is  said  about  it. 

Build  all  structures  connected  with  a  water-works 
system  as  nearly  fire-proof  as  practicable. 

Always  subject  a  pipe  system  after  it  is  laid,  and  be- 
fore acceptance  of  the  work,  to  a  substantial  test  with 
the  aid  of  the  pump — at  least  100  pounds  pressure  at 
the  hydrant ;  and  hold  this  pressure  one  hour  if  desired. 
Such  a  test  is  liable  to  show  all  the  weak  places  in  the 
pipe  and  expose  bad  calking.  It  is  much  better  to 
find  the  weak  places  in  a  pipe  system  before  the  accept- 
ance of  the  work  than  afterwards  during  a  conflagra- 
tion. If  under  the  test  a  breakage  occurs,  it  should  be 


A    WATER -WORKS  SYSTEM.  59 

repaired  and  a  second  test  made,  and  again  if  neces- 
sary until  no  breaks  occur. 

Test  the  valves  of  all  hydrants  in  the  fall  of  the  year 
before  freezing  weather  sets  in,  and  have  them  well 
protected  against  frost.  Test  them  again  in  the  early 
spring  when  freezing  weather  ceases,  and  drive  down 
all  frost-jackets  which  may  have  raised  during  the 
winter. 

Capacity  of  Pumps  required  for  Cities  of  a  Stated  Popu- 
lation. 
Population.  Daily  Capacity,  Gallons. 

1, 800  to  3,OOO I,OOO,000 

3,000  to  6,000 1,500,000 

6,000  to  10,000 2,000,000 

IO,000  to  20,000  2,50O,OOO 

20,000  tO  25,OOO 3,OOO,OOO 

Most  towns  and  cities  have  two  pumps  and  two 
boilers ;  the  pumps  are  not  always  of  the  same  capac- 
ity. Some  smaller  cities  have  but  one  pump  and  one 
boiler.  This  is  not  only  a  risk  because  of  the  liability 
of  a  breakdown,  but  there  comes  a  time  when  pump 
and  boiler  must  be  cleaned  or  repaired,  and  then  no 
pumping  can  be  done  and  for  the  time  being  there  is 
no  protection  against  fire. 

When  considering  the  adoption  of  a  water-works 
system,  whether  for  construction  by  the  town  or  city 
itself,  or  by  granting  a  franchise  to  a  company,  a 
map  or  plan  of  the  entire  pipe  system  and  hydrant 
location  should  be  carefully  prepared.  To  prepare 
such  a  plan  in  a  practicable  manner  the  source  of 


60  MUNICIPAL   IMPROVEMENTS. 

water  supply  must  first  be  permanently  fixed,  then 
locate  the  site  for  the  pumping  station  and  the  water- 
tower,  and  if  there  is  a  stream  traversing  and  dividing 
the  city,  the  pipe  crossings  of  the  stream  should  be 
located.  When  these  points  are  determined,  the  pipe 
lines  can  be  drawn  thereon.  The  map  should  show 
also  all  inhabited  blocks  in  the  city,  the  location  of  all 
public  buildings,  churches,  manufactories,  etc.,  and  the 
business  blocks  of  the  city  should  be  "  hatched,"  i.e., 
cross-lined,  so  that  the  map  will  show  at  a  glance  all  the 
actual  property  of  the  city  that  is  to  be  protected  with 
hydrants  and  exactly  what  streets  are  to  be  piped  to 
supply  water  to  consumers.  When  the  map  is  thus 
prepared,  the  hydrants  can  be  located  to  the  best 
advantage.  Place  one  hydrant  at  every  block  in 
the  business  centre  of  the  city,  also  a  hydrant  at 
the  corner  of  alleys  on  every  cross  street,  so  that  a 
line  of  hose  can  be  run  along  the  alley  in  rear  of  the 
stores,  where  fires  most  commonly  break  out.  In  the 
residence  parts  of  the  city  locate  one  hydrant  at  every 
alternate  block.  Place  hydrants  on  the  north  and  east 
side  of  streets,  where  they  will  receive  the  most  benefit 
from  the  sun's  rays  in  the  winter  months.  The  usual 
number  of  hydrants  placed  upon  a  system  is  ten  to 
one  mile  of  pipe.  This  is  about  the  right  number  in 
the  more  densely  settled  parts  of  a  city ;  but  in  the 
suburbs,  where  land  lots  are  larger  and  houses  farther 
apart,  seven  to  the  mile  is  enough  ;  this  number  gives 
one  hydrant  to  every  754  lineal  feet  of  pipe. 

When  the  map  is  entirely  completed  it  should  be 


A    WATER-WORKS  SYSTEM.  6 1 

formally  adopted  by  the  city  council  and  placed  on 
file,  and  the  franchise,  if  one  be  granted  to  a  company, 
should  refer  specifically  to  this  map  in  its  details  and 
conditions  ;  for  future  reference  it  will  be  invaluable, 
for  it  shows  the  original  pipe  system  and  plant  of  the 
city's  water-works  system,  independent  of  its  subse- 
quent growth  and  extensions. 

* 

Weight  per  Foot  of  Cast-iron  Pipes,  including  Socket  and 
Spigot  Ends. 

Diameter.  Thickness.  Weight  per  foot. 

4  inches \  inch 23  pounds 

6   "   "  "  33   " 

8   "   "  "  43   " 

10   "   |  "  68   " 

12   "   "  "   82    " 

14   "   "  «  94   " 

16   "   f  "  129   " 

18   "   "  "  137   " 

20   "   f  "  197    " 

24  "  "  "  224  " 

Note. — Cast-iron  pipe  costs  from  $24  to  $30  per  ton  at  the  foundry. 
Specials  (T's  and  Y's)  cost  $50  per  ton.  Freight  from  n  to  18  cents 
per  100  pounds  to  points  in  the  Northwest. 

The  usual  length  of  a  water-pipe  is  12  feet. 

The  length  of  a  hydrant  stock  is  7  feet  below  the 
level  of  the  sidewalk  curb,  unless  otherwise  ordered  by 
the  purchaser. 


62  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

The  valve  or  gate  stocks  which  cover  and  protect 
the  valves  on  the  street  mains  are  made  6  feet  long, 
with  screw-sleeve  attachments,  so  that  the  top  of  them 
can  be  adjusted -to  the  grade  or  surface  of  the  street. 

The  grade  of  all  streets  in  a  town  or  city  should  be 
established  and  profiles  of  the  same  placed  on  file  in 
the  city  clerk's  office,  and  the  water-pipe  laid,  where 
practicable  to  do  so,  to  conform  to  such  grades.  Un- 
less this  be  done  trouble  will  arise  between  the  city 
and  the  water  company  whenever  a  street  is  graded 
and  the  water-pipe  thus  exposed  to  the  danger  of 
freezing;  the  water  company  must  lower  the  pipe, 
and  it  generally  expects  the  city  to  pay  for  such  work 
where  no  street  grades  are  established. 

It  is  an  open  question  whether  a  city  council  has  the 
authority  to  convey  to  a  water  or  a  gas  company  any 
right  whatever  to  the  use  of  its  streets,  above  or  belcw 
ground,  which  entails  upon  that  city  expense  in 
caring  for  or  protecting  such  property  as  these  com- 
panies may  bury  below  the  street  surface.  The  city 
had  certain  rights  and  authority  to  grade,  level,  pave, 
and  otherwise  improve  its  streets  before  the  water 
company  existed,  and  the  granting  of  a  franchise  to 
supply  the  city  with  water  or  gas  should  not  curtail 
this  right  in  the  least  particular ;  if  the  city  must  pay 
for  lowering  or  raising  water  and  gas  pipes  whenever 
it  grades  a  street,  it  certainly  is  a  curtailment  of  the 
rights  of  a  city  to  improve  its  streets. 


A    WATER-WORKS  SYSTEM. 


Gallons  of  Water  required  Daily  for  Man  and  Beast. 
(German  Estimate?) 

One  person,  in  summer 20  gallons. 

"         "         "  winter 15       " 

"    horse,  average 1 8       " 

"    cow,          "       13       " 

"    heifer,       "       10       " 

"    sheep,       "       i 

"    hog,          «       7      « 


Hydrant  Pressures  required  to  give  Certain  Streams  of 
Water  of  Stated  Volume  and  Efficiency. 


Hydrant 
Pressure, 
pounds  per 
sq.  inch. 

Length  of 
aj-inch  Ruh- 
ber  Hose 
in  feet. 

Size  of 
Nozzle, 
Smooth 
Bore. 

Gallons 
discharged 
per 
minute. 

Height 
thrown  in 
ieet. 

Distance 
thrown  in 
feet. 

50 

300 

l£  ins. 

155 

53 

82 

55 

300 

I*    " 

164 

59 

89 

60 

300 

it     ' 

170 

63 

93 

50 

400 

U    " 

142 

45 

74 

55 

400 

152 

51 

80 

60 

4OO 

l|    " 

1-58 

55 

84 

60 

2OO 

it    " 

182 

75    ' 

106 

70 

200 

it    " 

196 

85 

117 

80 

2OO 

it    " 

209 

94 

123 

64  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 


A  MUNICIPAL   FRANCHISE. 

A  FRANCHISE  granted  by  a  town  or  city  is  now- 
adays, in  its  form  and  terms,  the  record  of  a  bargain 
between  two  parties,  whereby  the  conditions  may 
prove  to  be  exceedingly  favorable  to  the  grantee 
and  very  onerous  and  unfavorable  to  the  grantor,  or 
the  community  the  franchise  is  intended  to  benefit  for 
a  consideration ;  but  frequently  the  grantor  does  not 
discover  or  realize  the  true  intent  or  purport  of  all 
the  conditions  imposed  until  the  results  are  shown  by 
actual  working  operations.  When  the  franchise  is  con- 
sidered and  discussed  before  its  passage,  the  grantee 
invariably  knows  of  what  he  is  talking  and  the 
council,  as  a  rule,  does  not,  it  having  no  previous 
experience  in  that  particular  matter ;  and  many  fran- 
chises have  been  granted  for  gas,  electric  lighting, 
street  railways,  water-works,  etc.,  that  were  not  fully 
comprehended  by  any  of  the  council  when  under  con- 
sideration ;  indeed,  there  are  existing  franchises  which 
contain  conditions  that  would  not  be  tolerated,  nor  even 
considered  for  a  moment,  had  the  grantors  their  work 
to  do  over  again.  But  the  grantors  in  such  cases  are  the 
people,  and  the  people  have  only  themselves  to  blame 
for  the  bad  effects  of  their  bargains  :  they  allowed  their 
representatives  to  buy  goods  of  a  kind  and  quality  with 


A  MUNICIPAL  FRANCHISE.  65 

which  they  were  totally  unfamiliar,  and  although  the 
community  may  murmur  because  of  the  poor  results 
obtained,  it  must  nevertheless  foot  the  bills.  The  care- 
ful, conservative  alderman,  one  who  exercises  the  same 
good  judgment  and  business  tact  in  public  matters 
that  he  does  in  his  personal  affairs,  will  hesitate  to 
vote  for  or  approve  of  any  contract  or  franchise  to 
be  granted  or  let  in  the  interest  of  his  city  until  he 
fully  understands  all  the  conditions  involved  and  some- 
thing of  the  effect  they  may  have  upon  the  community 
when  the  instrument  is  subjected  to  practical  operation. 

The  legal  requirements  of  a  franchise  are  most  gen- 
erally well  cared  for,  because  both  parties  to  the  agree- 
ment employ  able  lawyers  to  frame  the  conditions  ;  but 
oftentimes  there  exists  a  gap  between  the  legal  and 
the  mechanical  requirements  that  cannot  be  closed — 
where  human  and  natural  laws  will  not  join  and  make 
a  harmonious  whole — because  the  mechanical  part  of 
the  franchise  was  not  represented  and  in  connection 
with  the  legal  part  when  the  document  was  framed. 
In  such  cases  the  mechanical  conditions  must  in  effect 
be  ignored  and  are  inoperative,  because  they  would 
otherwise  conflict  with  the  law,  which  has  a  weakening 
effect  upon  the  whole  franchise,  creating  in  the  com- 
munity a  feeling  of  dissatisfaction  that  exists  during  the 
life  of  the  franchise. 

There  are  many  instances  where  municipalities  could 
have  obtained  better  water  systems,  better  bridges 
and  pavements,  and  for  the  same  money  that  is  ex- 
pended for  poor  work  or  service,  had  the  city  em- 


66  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

played  a  competent*  engineer  to  care  for  its  interests, 
instead  of  dealing  unadvisedly  with  the  contractor 
and  accepting  plans  and  specifications  drawn  by  him, 
or  a  franchise  drawn  by  the  would-be  grantee,  of 
which  the  council  knew  little  or  nothing.  The  ten- 
dency when  granting  a  franchise  is  to  be  too  liberal 
with  the  terms  imposed  and  at  the  same  time  care- 
less regarding  the  exact  nature  of  those  which  the 
same  franchise  will  impose  upon  the  city.  A  franchise 
is  presumed  to  convey  benefits  to  a  community  grant- 
ing it,  and  for  such  benefits  the  community  are  gen- 
erally required  to  pay,  either  individually  or  collectively, 
as  with  street-cars  and  street-lighting.  The  franchise 
when  in  practical  operation  is  expected  to  produce  a 
sufficient  remuneration  to  the  holder  thereof  to  induce 
him  to  confer  certain  benefits  upon  the  community  for 

*  The  use  of  the  word  "  competent "  is  every  way  better  for  the 
engineer  than  the  word  expert.  All  professional  men  are  not  experts 
in  their  particular  calling.  When  called  into  court  to  give  testimony 
upon  matters  pertaining  to  their  vocation  they  are  generally  rated  as 
experts  and  berated  by  the  opposing  lawyers  because  of  this  dis- 
tinguishing title,  and  in  the  minds  of  some  persons  the  word  "  expert," 
as  applied  to  professional  men,  has  become  synonymous  with  the 
word  liar — perhaps  justly  so  in  some  cases.  A  competent  engineer  is 
no  more  of  an  expert  than  is  a  competent  doctor,  lawyer,  or  manu- 
facturer, unless  he  is  a  specialist  in  certain  branches  of  his  vocation 
and  well  known  as  such.  Neither  the  city  attorney,  the  city  engineer, 
nor  the  city  physician  is  rated  as  an  expert,  however  competent  he 
may  be  in  his  calling;  but  when  the  outside  professional  man  is  called 
upon  to  consult  with  one  of  these  officials  upon  matters  profound  or 
difficult,  he  is  forthwith  dubbed  an  expert,  when  in  a  majority  of 
cases  he  is  simply  competent. 


A   MUNICIPAL  FRANCHISE.  67 

a  specified  term  of  years:  should  it  prove  to  be  un- 
remunerative,  it  is  generally  allowed  to  lapse  and 
the  public  receive  no  further  service  from  it,  notwith- 
standing the  conditions  it  contained  requiring  the 
continuance  of  the  service ;  but  no  lapse  occurs  if  the 
conditions  of  the  franchise  prove  to  be  advantageous 
and  remunerative  to  the  holder  and  are  insufficient 
and  burdensome  to  the  community  for  which  it  was 
created.  Under  these  circumstances  the  community 
will  bear  with  it  to  the  end,  complainingly  of  course, 
unless  the  conditions  become  unbearable  and  relief  is 
sought  in  a  court  of  law. 

Most  franchises  in  their  operation  impose  a  twofold 
tax  upon  a  community  :  the  individual  being  taxed,  for 
instance,  for  gas  and  water  for  the  house,  and  the 
city  for  gas  for  street-lighting,  and  water  for  the  hy- 
drants. Street-car  service  imposes  a  tax  upon  the 
individual  alone,  and  this  not  quite  so  voluntary  as  has 
been  claimed  for  it :  it  is  not  always  optional  with  the 
business  man  whether  he  will  ride  or  walk ;  his  own  or 
his  employer's  interests  may  not  permit  it,  because  of 
the  time  consumed  in  walking  long  distances. 

Modern  appliances  and  appurtenances  seem  to  be 
in  a  constant  state  of  evolution ;  the  best  methods 
and  appliances  of  to-day  may  become  obsolete  within 
a  year.  This  rapid  material  development  has  had  a 
marked  effect  upon  municipal  improvements,  simplify- 
ing and  cheapening  so  many  of  them  that  they  have 
been  readily  adopted  by  the  smaller  cities,  giving  them 
quite  as  metropolitan  an  appearance  as  our  largest 


68  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

cities.  This  transitory  state  of  material  things  affect- 
ing municipal  improvements  has  also  a  marked  effect 
on  the  population  of  a  city :  it  demands  the  best  and 
cheapest  service  of  all  kinds,  and  as  soon  as  it  is  dem- 
onstrated that  the  improved  service  is  better  than  that 
which  they  have,  its  adoption  is  an  immediate  result. 
Therefore,  when  a  franchise  is  to  be  granted  for  any 
purpose  it  should  be  for  a  short  period  of  time — about 
ten  years ;  otherwise  it  should  contain  a  provision 
whereby  a  community  may  in  after  years  regulate  the 
service  performed  to  conform  to  the  changed  and 
altered  conditions  of  the  municipality  wherein  it  exists, 
and  also  regulate  the  price  exacted  for  the  service  ren- 
dered— upon  the  same  principle  that  long  leases  of  real 
estate  are  re-rated  in  rental  price  every  ten  or  twenty 
years.  The  conditions  involved  when  granting  a  fran- 
chise are  matters  peculiarly  under  the  care  of  the 
municipality,  and  the  council  granting  it  is  not  only 
required  but  bound  to  act  with  the  highest  regard  for 
public  interests. 

It  is  strongly  advocated  by  some  of  the  best  munici- 
pal legislators  in  this  country  that  the  use  of  streets 
by  companies  whose  franchises  grant  such  use  should 
be  paid  for,  and  not  freely  donated  as  is  now  commonly 
done.  The  license  fee  paid  by  street-car  companies  in 
some  cities  is  a  practical  illustration  of  this  opinion. 

A  city  granting  a  franchise  at  the  present  time  should 
do  so  conditionally,  and  the  conditions  held  in  view 
should  be: 


A   MUNICIPAL  FRANCHISE.  69 

A  re-rating  at  stated  intervals  of  prices  paid  for 
service  rendered ; 

The  termination  of  the  contract  by  purchase  when- 
ever desired,  in  a  fair  and  equitable  manner  ; 

Reserving  the  right  to  annul  the  contract  when  the 
service  rendered  is  continuously  inferior  to  the  better 
service  required. 

When  a  company  seeks  to  obtain  a  franchise  from  a 
municipality,  it  does  so  because  it  is  believed  that  the 
results  of  its  operation  will  be  remunerative,  otherwise 
it  would  not  be  asked  for,  and  this  fact  should  be 
borne  in  mind,  as  it  affords  some  idea  of  the  value  of 
the  franchise  asked  for. 


70  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 


PAVING  MEMORANDA. 

STONE  paving-blocks  are  supposed  to  be  made  of 
uniform  dimensions,  but  they  are  seldom  found  to  be 
so.  The  usual  dimensions  of  the  granite  block  are 
3i  X  6  X  8  inches ;  upon  work  where  the  pavers  are 
laying  them  they  will  be  found  not  only  of  these 
dimensions,  but  also  of  4  X  6  X  9  inches,  3X6X9 
inches,  and  4x6x7  inches.  This  variation  in  dimen- 
sion is  not  in  the  least  objectionable  if  all  are  of  a  uni- 
form depth  of  six  inches  and  have  parallel  surfaces. 
Sometimes  paving-blocks  are  used  which  comply  with 
the  required  dimensions  at  one  end  only,  and  this  end 
is  placed  upwards  by  the .  paver  ;  the  lower  end  of  the 
block  may  be  either  wedge-shaped  or  bluntly  pointed, 
or  quite  suggestive  in  shape  of  a  kernel  of  corn.  Such 
a  paving-block,  having  no  flat  base  to  rest  on,  sinks  in 
the  ground,  causing  many  of  the  numerous  depressions 
seen  in  pavements.  Stone  blocks  may  vary  a  little  in 
width  and  not  be  at  all  detrimental  to  the  quality  of 
the  work.  Three  blocks  placed  side  by  side  should 
not  measure  in  the  aggregate  more  than  fourteen 
inches  in  width.  When  granite  blocks  are  set  on  a 
concrete  base  the  joints  are  generally  filled  with  a  mix- 
ture of  hot  tar  or  pitch  and  gravel. 

The  paving-bricks  now  offered  for  sale  are  2j  X  3^ 


PAVING  MEMORANDA.  ?i 

X  7f  inches ;  they  are  burned  harder  than  the  ordi- 
nary brick,  and  when  struck  smartly  give  a  metallic 
ring  like  vitrified  sewer-pipe.  In  pavements  they 
are  generally  laid  in  two  courses  or  layers :  the  lower 
course  is  laid  flatwise,  the  length  placed  longitudinally 
with  the  street ;  the  upper  course  edgewise,  the  length 
placed  transversely  with  the  street.  An  interstitial 
filling  is  used  in  the  joints  composed  of  hot  tar  and 
coarse  sand,  or  asphaltum  and  coarse  sand,  or  some 
patent  compound  prepared  for  the  purpose,  of  which 
there  are  several  kinds  on  the  market. 

Wood  paving-blocks  should  be  as  nearly  of  uni- 
form diameter  as  practicable.  The  lesser  diameter 
should  be  four  inches,  and  the  greater  eight  inches. 
The  pavement  will  be  the  better  if  all  the  larger  blocks 
are  split  into  two  parts  and  then  laid  among  those 
of  lesser  diameter.  A  block  eight  or  nine  inches  in 
diameter,  surrounded  with  blocks  of  much  less  diame- 
ter, will  make  in  time  a  noticeable  elevation  in  the 
pavement,  the  smaller  blocks  wearing  away  or  being 
crushed  down  by  the  traffic,  leaving  the  broader  block 
isolated  and  higher  than  those  about  it.  Six  inches  is 
the  usual  depth  of  block  used,  although  blocks  of  five 
inches  depth  are  not  uncommon.  The  blocks  must  be 
set  quite  loosely  in  place,  for  when  wet  they  expand 
so  much  as  to  lift  from  the  foundation.  Select  the 
largest  blocks,  split  them  in  two,  and  place  the  split 
sides  against  the  curb,  which  forms  an  excellent  joint : 
the  large  blocks  are  thus  removed  from  the  middle  of 
the  street,  where  those  of  a  uniform  size  should  be  used. 


?2  MUNICIPAL   IMPROVEMENTS. 

The  Telford-Macadam  pavement  as  now  constructed 
is  substantially  made  by  first  grading,  surfacing,  and 
rolling,  in  a  ver)'  thorough  manner,  the  earth  road-bed 
upon  which  the  stone  covering  is  to  be  laid  ;  the  first 
layer,  of  broad,  flat  stones,  is  then  placed  by  hand, 
the  stones  set  closely  together,  with  the  base  of 
each  downwards ;  the  joints  are  then  filled  with  spalls 
wedged  and  sledged  solidly  in  place.  Upon  this  pre- 
pared surface  the  coarser  stone  from  the  crusher  is 
laid,  covering  it  with  coarse  gravel  as  a  binder  that  it 
may  be  well  rolled ;  upon  this  a  third  layer  of  the 
medium-sized  stone  from  the  crusher  is  spread,  and  upon 
this  third  layer  is  put  the  finer  stone  from  the  crusher ; 
this  surface  is  then  wet  thoroughly  and  rolled  until  it  is 
very  compact  and  firm. 

Before  any  paving  or  macadam  is  laid,  the  subgrade 
or  earth  road-bed  which  is  to  receive  the  wearing  sur- 
face of  the  road  or  street  should  be  graded  so  as  to 
insure  good  drainage  and  then  be  well  and  compactly 
rolled ;  for  if  this  subgrade  yields  in  places  under  future 
conditions  of  weather  or  traffic,  the  surface  of  the  road 
will  yield  correspondingly,  and  every  such  depression 
will  be  plainly  indicated  by  a  puddle  on  the  surface  in 
wet  weather, — and  it  is  the  puddles  which  make  our 
bad  streets  and  roads. 

General  Gillmore  said  that  a  good,  well-built  road 
was  also  a  good  roof.  This  comparative  idea  should  be 
borne  in  mind  by  the  builders  of  roads. 


BRIDGES.  73 

V?'** 

XOD,...       * 


BRIDGES. 

THE  bridges  generally  built  by  a  municipality  are  of 
two  kinds :  the  swing-bridge  for  navigable  streams, 
and  the  fixed  or  permanent  bridge  for  unnavigable 
streams. 

If  a  swing-bridge  is  desired,  the  first  thing  to  con- 
sider is  the  width  of  the  channel  upon  either  side,  which 
should  be  wide  enough  to  permit  the  passage  of  the 
largest  boat  that  navigates  the  waters  of  that  locality. 
Sixty  feet  is  the  usual  width  for  draw-channels  in  the 
cities  located  on  the  shores  of  the  great  lakes,  although 
there  are  several  draw-channels  in  the  Northwest  which 
are  sixty-six  feet  wide,  and  this  is  not  an  undesirable 
feature  for  the  larger  vessels  which  require  more  leeway. 
Side-wheel  steamers  require  a  greater  width  of  channel 
than  other  boats,  but  such  boats  are  now  principally 
confined  to  river  traffic  ;  hence  the  width  of  a  draw- 
channel  is  a  matter  of  local  consideration.  For  a  swing- 
bridge  there  is  nothing  gained  by  making  it  wider  and 
longer  than  is  absolutely  necessary ;  the  heavier  the 
bridge  the  harder  or  more  difficult  it  is  to  turn,  and 
such  bridges  are  most  generally  turned  by  hand. 

The  roadway  of  a  swing-bridge  is  generally  made 
1 8  feet  wide,  and  the  sidewalks  9  feet  4  inches  wide 
from  the  inside  of  the  roadway  curb  to  the  extreme 
edge  of  the  sidewalk  floor ;  but  from  this  width  of 


74  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

9  feet  4  inches  must  be  deducted  the  width  of  the 
roadway  curb,  the  thickness  of  the  truss  post,  and 
the  space  occupied  by  the  sidewalk  rail,  which  in  the 
aggregate  amounts  to  about  2  feet,  thus  leaving  a  clear 
width  of  sidewalk  of  7  feet  4  inches.  The  aggregate 
width  of  the  two  sidewalks  and  roadway  is  36  feet  8 
inches ;  the  width  of  draw-seats  at  each  abutment  is 
3  feet  6  inches.  The  pier  protection  in  mid-channel 
should  be  built  at  least  3  feet  wider  than  the  extreme 
width  of  bridge,  to  afford  a  safe  protection  to  the  draw 
when  swung.  The  summing  up  of  these  dimensions 
will  give  the  total  length  of  draw  required  for  a  chan- 
nel 60  feet  wide  upon  either  side  of  the  bridge : 

Width  of  bridge 36  feet  8  inches 

Two  draw-seats 7     "    o      " 

Pier  protection,  outside  of  draw 3     "    o       " 

Two  channels,  each  60  feet 120     "    o      " 


Length  of  bridge 166  feet  8  inches 

If  the  width  of  the  bridge  is  increased,  the  length 
must  be  increased  correspondingly,  otherwise  the 
width  of  channels  will  be  decreased. 

The  iron  or  steel  bridge  is  now  almost  universally 
adopted  by  towns  and  cities,*  but  the  wooden  bridge 
floors  have  not  yet  been  relegated  to  obscurity,  along 

*The  first  all-steel  bridge  was  that  over  the  Missouri  River  at 
Glasgow,  Mo.,  built  by  Gen.  W.  S.  Smith,  civil  engineer,  of  Chicago, 
111.,  and  completed  in  1880.  Now  the  steel  bridge  is  met  with  not 
only  in  cities,  but  on  country  highways. 


BRIDGES. 


F    o 
o     o 
o    o 


I 


$       > 

5       5 

SJ        & 


Sj 

f 


76  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

with  the  wooden  truss,  as  they  should  be.  The  fixed  or 
permanent  bridge  can  be  made  of  almost  any  reason- 
able length  desired,  and  without  any  consideration  of 
the  weight  and  difficulty  of  turning  which  is  involved 
in  the  construction  of  the  swing-bridge.  Its  width 
of  roadway  can  be  made  as  desired,  for  two  or  four 
vehicles  to  move  abreast  of  each  other,  or  it  can  be 
made  the  full  width  of  the  street  or  streets  it  is  to 
connect. 

If  a  bridge  floor  is  to  be  of  wood,  the  roadway  floor- 
ing should  be  of  double  thickness,  and  the  upper 
thickness  (called  wearing  plank)  laid  independently 
of  the  guard-rail  and  sidewalks,  that  it  may  be  re- 
newed when  necessary  and  without  disturbing  the 
sidewalks.  Sidewalks  will  last  much  longer  than  any 
surface  plank  that  can  be  laid  upon  a  bridge  roadway. 
This  method  of  flooring  is  applicable  to  either  the 
swing  or  fixed  bridge. 

The  foundation  for  a  masonry  centre  pier  for  a 
swing-bridge,  or  for  a  pier  placed  in  mid-stream  to 
connect  two  spans,  can  be  made  by  sinking  a  caisson 
below  the  river  bottom  upon  stable  soil  or  rock  and 
filling  the  same  with  concrete  to  the  water-level. 
A  pile  sub-foundation  may  be  made  by  driving  the 
piles  closely  together  within  the  area  desired,  and  cut- 
ting them  off  at  a  depth  of  about  four  feet  below 
water-level ;  then  place  a  water-tight  caisson  on  the 
piles,  and  commence  laying  the  masonry  on  the  floor 
of  the  caisson.  The  interstices  of  the  piling  should  be 
well  filled  with  broken  stone  before  the  caisson  is 
placed  thereon.  If  the  subsoil  below  the  bed  of  the 


BRIDGES.  77 

stream  is  soft  and  mucky,  or  partakes  of  the  nature 
of  quicksand,  and  is  of  such  depth  that  piling  when 
driven  into  it  will  not  stand  sufficiently  firm  and  steady 
to  support  the  proposed  structure,  then  pneumatic 
caisson  work  will  be  necessary,  and  the  plans,  specifi- 
cations, and  work  itself  should  be  placed  in  the  hands 
of  a  competent  engineer. 

Cribwork  made  with  sheet-piling  and  walings,  two 
rows,  with  an  intervening  space  about  18  inches  wide, 
packed  solidly  with  gravel  to  exclude  water,  costs  from 
$6  to  $10  per  lineal  foot,  according  to  the  depth  of 
water  in  which  it  is  built.  Pneumatic  caisson  work 
costs  about  $2.25  to  $3  per  cubic  foot,  measuring  the 
entire  bulk  of  the  caisson.  A  caisson  constructed  on 
shore  and  floated  to  place  and  set  on  a  pile  support,  to 
a  depth  of  four  feet,  more  or  less,  below  water-level, 
costs  from  30  to  40  cents  per  cubic  foot.  Such  caissons 
are  generally  built  of  heavy  pine  plank. 

Piles  that  are  to  be  driven  below  water-level  may  be 
of  pine,  cedar,  tamarack,  or  elm ;  oak  is  preferable 
where  they  remain  partially  above  ground  or  water, 
and  in  this  case  they  should  be  stripped  of  their  bark. 

Piles  when  driven  should  be  ringed  unless  an  iron 
cap  is  used,  and  should  not  be  forced  into  hard  ground 
to  their  injury.  The  driving  should  stop  when  they 
cease  to  move  under  the  blows  of  the  hammer.  Piles 
cost  from  16  to  25  cents  per  lineal  foot;  the  cost  of 
driving  varies  from  15  to  20  cents  per  foot.  Founda- 
tion-piles should  girt  not  less  than  36  inches  midway 
their  length. 


?8  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

It  pays  well  to  select  all  lumber  intended  for  bridges, 
using  only  the  best.  Although  the  first  cost  is  there- 
by much  increased,  there  is  an  actual  saving  of  money 
in  the  greater  durability  of  the  work.  All  bridge  lum- 
ber and  timber  is  necessarily  long,  consequently  is  the 
most  expensive ;  and  the  renewal  of  a  bridge  floor  is 
not  only  an  expensive  job,  but  is  an  annoyance  to  the 
public  and  an  obstacle  to  the  business  interests  of  a 
city.  Norway  pine  should  not  be  used  on  bridges ;  it 
checks  badly,  which  diminishes  the  strength  of  the  stick. 

When  a  municipality  can  afford  to  do  so  it  should 
build  its  bridges  with  iron  or  steel  floor  beams  and 
joists — in  fact,  make  all  of  the  structure  that  is  practica- 
ble of  steel.  If  a  fixed  or  permanent  bridge,  the  floor 
may  be  of  asphaltum ;  but  if  a  swing-bridge,  a  plank 
floor  is  necessary,  as  paving  of  almost  any  kind  will 
load  the  structure  too  heavily,  unless  steam  or  electric 
power  be  used  to  turn  it. 

When  advertising  for  proposals  for  bridge  construc- 
tion, divide  the  work,  requiring  separate  bids  for  the  sub- 
structure and  the  superstructure ;  because  some  bridge 
builders  do  not  build  substructures,  besides  the  council 
will  have  the  advantage  of  a  greater  number  of  bids  to 
choose  from. 

When  a  municipality  grants  an  electric  motor  line 
franchise,  a  clause  should  be  inserted  requiring  the 
company  to  furnish  power  to  turn  all  drawbridges  which 
are  traversed  by  the  cars  of  the  company.  Of  course 
the  city  must  furnish  and  keep  in  repair  the  necessary 
electric  cables  and  apparatus  for  turning  the  bridge. 


ASSESSMENT  AGAINST  REAL  ESTATE.          79 


METHODS  OF  ASSESSMENT  AGAINST 
REAL   ESTATE. 

LOCAL  customs  and  laws  have  produced  different 
methods  of  assessment.  The  prevailing  opinion  now- 
adays seems  to  be  that  "  every  tub  shall  stand  upon 
its  own  bottom" — or,  in  other  words,  every  piece  of 
property  on  a  street  shall  pay  for  one  half  the  cost  of 
all  improvements  done  on  the  street ;  and  this  rule  is 
perhaps  as  good  equity  in  such  matters  as  can  be  prac- 
tised. 

If  it  is  desirable  to  raise  a  general  sewer  fund,  legis- 
lative authority  to  do  so  may  be  obtained,  provided 
that  the  city  charter  does  not  warrant  the  raising  of  such 
a  fund  ;  or  a  community  may  ask  for  an  election,  that  a 
popular  vote  may  give  the  council  authority  to  issue 
bonds  the  sale  of  which  will  afford  the  funds  desired. 

Sometimes  a  general  city  tax  can  be  levied  annually 
to  pay  for  sewers  built  during  the  year.  A  general 
sewer  fund  is  in  most  instances  necessary,  because 
without  it  the  sewers  at  street  intersections  cannot  be 
built,  and  private  property  can  rarely  be  assessed  to 
pay  for  such  construction  ;  therefore  it  is  necessary 
that  the  city  have  funds  to  pay  its  share  of  the  con- 
struction, whether  it  be  sewers  or  pavements,  other- 
wise the  property  owners  cannot  have  the  benefit  of 
such  improvements. 


80  MUNICIPAL   IMPROVEMENTS. 

It  is  customary  for  the  city  to  pay  from  the  general 
fund : 

For  sewer  work — the  cost  of  main  and  intersecting 
sewers,  man-holes,  catch-basins,  lantern-holes,  flushing 
tanks  and  outfalls ;  also  sewers  at  all  street  intersec- 
tions and  along  the  frontage  of  all  city  public  buildings 
and  parks. 

For  street  work — pavements  and  crossings  at  street 
intersections  ;  pavements  along  the  frontage  of  city 
public  buildings  and  parks. 

For  bridges — all  bridge  and  viaduct  work  between 
dock  lines  or  meander  lines,  unless  the  construction 
involves  a  change  of  grade  ;  then  the  city  should  pay 
for  all  the  work  done ;  also  for  all  culvert  work  done 
on  streets  within  the  city. 

It  is  very  unusual  for  a  city  to  pay  from  the  gen- 
eral fund  the  cost  of  curbs  and  sidewalks  at  street  in- 
tersections ;  this  is  invariably  charged  to  the  property 
located  at  each  corner,  respectively. 

Where  a  city  builds  its  own  system  of  water-works 
the  entire  cost  of  the  system  is  paid  from  a  general 
fund  provided  specially  for  the  purpose.  The  sale  of 
water  to  the  inhabitants  is  about  the  only  method  that 
has  been  adopted  to  reimburse  the  city  for  such  an 
improvement ;  it  is  for  this  reason  that  the  revenues 
from  the  water-works  system  are  in  most  cities  kept 
separate  from  other  revenues.  The  revenues  thus  re- 
ceived are  used  to  liquidate  the  indebtedness  caused 
by  the  construction  of  the  system  and  for  repairs  and 
extension  of  the  pipe-lines,  also  for  operating  expenses. 


A SSESSMEN T  AGA INS T  REA L  ESTATE.  8 1 

When  the  revenues  exceed  the  total  expenses,  the 
rates  to  consumers  are  generally  reduced. 

In  many  cities  the  property  owner  is  charged  only 
with  the  cost  of  laying  an  eight-inch  sewer,  no  matter 
how  much  larger  in  diameter  the  sewer  may  be  that 
was  laid  on  his  street.  If  a  larger  sewer  was  laid,  the 
city  bore  the  expense  but  charged  the  cost  of  an  eight- 
inch  sewer  to  the  abutting  property  owners.  Thus 
property  assessments  for  sewer  construction  per  lineal 
foot  of  frontage  never  exceed  the  cost  per  lineal  foot 
for  laying  an  eight-inch  pipe. 

It  is  also  a  common  practice  to  assess  each  lineal 
foot  of  frontage  of  the  entire  city  the  sum  of  one 
dollar  or  more.  This  sum  the  city  can  draw  upon  for 
all  sewer  work,  including  the  street  sewers,  which  are  a 
benefit  to  the  abutting  property ;  but  when  any  lot 
has  paid  this  sum  of  one  dollar  per  lineal  foot  it  is 
exempt  from  further  assessments  for  sewer  work.  It 
will  sometimes  require  three  or  more  partial  assess- 
ments, at  intervals  of  several  years,  before  the  whole 
assessment  is  collected. 

Where  cities  because  of  their  topographical  con- 
ditions are  naturally  divided,  it  is  better  to  maintain 
these  divisions  when  the  sewerage  system  is  planned, 
naming  the  different  divisions  "  District  A,"  "  District 
B,"  etc.  Where  these  districts  are  formed  they  are 
distinct  from  each  other  in  all  matters  pertaining  to 
sewer  construction  ;  each  district  can  provide  sewers 
for  itself  without  interference  from  the  residents  of 
another  district. 


82  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

There  is  another  method  of  levying  assessments 
against  property  for  street  improvements  founded  on 
areas  of  property.  Each  lot  is  assessed  one  cent,  more 
or  less  as  may  be  required,  per  square  foot  of  area 
contained  within  its  boundary.  This  method  of  assess- 
ment may  be  used  for  the  payment  of  sewer  construc- 
tion or  for  paving.  A  lot  50  feet  wide  and  120  feet 
deep  contains  6000  square  feet ;  at  one  cent  per  square 
foot  the  assessment  would  be  $60. 

In  making  assessments  for  improvements  it  is  cus- 
tomary to  deduct  about  one  third  of  the  total  assess- 
ment levied  against  a  corner  lot. 

Assessments  made  against  church  property  and  othe-r 
institutions  (not  public)  are  paid  by  the  trustees  or 
other  legal  custodians  of  such  institutions. 


MISCELLANEOUS  MEMORANDA.  83 


MISCELLANEOUS   MEMORANDA. 

CONDENSING-ENGINES  require  2O  to  25  gallons  of 
water  to  condense  the  steam  evaporated  from  one 
gallon  of  water. 

A  COLUMN  OF  WATER  one  inch  square  and  2-f-fa 
feet  high  will  give  one  pound  (static)  pressure  per 
square  inch. 

A  CUBIC  FOOT  OF  WATER  at  a  temperature  of  60 
degrees  (Fahrenheit)  weighs  62T3Tr\7ir  pounds  (=  7^^ 
gallons). 

AN  AREA  100  FEET  SQUARE  contains  •££$  acres. 
To  find  readily  the  quantity  of  land  in  a  given  area, 
reduce  it  to  square  feet  and  multiply  the  sum  by  0.23. 

WEIGHT  OF  SUBSTANCES. 

One  cubic  foot  of  granite  weighs 160  Ibs. 

"  "      limestone  weighs 130  " 

"  "      sandstone  weighs 125  " 

"  "      brickwork  weighs 125  " 

"  "      gravel  weighs 84  " 

"  "      sand  (moist)  weighs   84  " 

"  "      clay  (moist)  weighs 90  " 

"  "      earth,  common  loam,  weighs  75  " 

"      earth,  common  loam,  moist, 

weighs 90  " 


84  MUNICIPAL   IMPROVEMENTS. 

One  cubic  foot  of  elm,  dry,  weighs 35  Ibs. 

"  "      pine,  white,  dry,  weighs ....    30    " 

"  "      pine,  yellow,  dry,  weighs.. . .   40    " 

"  "      pine,  Southern,  dry,  weighs  60     " 

For  green  lumber  add  one  fifth  the  weight  given  for 

each  kind,  respectively. 

MASONRY   AND   BRICKWORK. 

I J  barrels  of  lime  and  f  of  a  cubic  yard  of  sand  will 
lay  1000  brick. 

1600  to  1800  brick  laid  is  a  day's  work  for  one  man, 
properly  attended. 

\\  barrels  of  lime  and  I  cubic  yard  of  sand  will 
lay  100  cubic  feet  of  stone. 

One  man  and  one  tender  will  lay  150  cubic  feet  of 
stone  in  one  day  (rubble  masonry). 

\\  barrels  of  cement  and  f  of  a  cubic  yard  of  sand 
will  lay  100  cubic  feet  of  stone,  rubble  masonry. 

FOR  MAKING  CONCRETE. — Mix  one  barrel  of  cement 
with  10  cubic  feet  of  sand ;  cast  it  upon  25  cubic  feet 
of  broken  stone ;  moisten  the  mass  with  water  applied 
with  a  rose  sprinkler ;  overturn  twice  with  shovels, 
then  cast  into  trench  in  layers  not  exceeding  8  inches 
thickness  and  ram  well  in  place.  Rammers  should 
weigh  about  12  pounds.  Do  not  drench  the  concrete 
with  water  when  mixing  it. 


MISCELLANEOUS  MEMORANDA.  85 

COAL. 

Anthracite. 

Lump  coal  contains  36.19  cubic  feet  per  ton  of  2000 
pounds. 

Egg  contains  34.63  cubic  feet  per  ton. 
Nut  contains  34.32  cubic  feet  per  ton. 
Pea  contains  37.60  cubic  feet  per  ton. 

Bituminous  Coal. 

Indiana  block  contains  45.61  cubic  feet  per  ton  of 
2000  pounds. 

Illinois  coal  contains  42.35  cubic  feet  per  ton. 
Ohio  cannel  contains  40.66  cubic  feet  per  ton. 
Hocking  contains  40.56  cubic  feet  per  ton. 
Coke  contains  76.04  cubic  feet  per  ton. 


86  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 


GRADES  OF  SEWERS. 

THE  grade  or  inclination  of  a  sewer  is  an  important 
feature  of  a  sewer  building.  It  is  not  wise  to  lay 
sewers  at  such  excessively  steep  grades  that  the  fluids 
will  flow  rapidly  away,  leaving  the  solids  stranded  as  it 
were  for  awhile,  to  be  shoved  or  carried  along  farther 
by  the  next  influx  of  fluid,  for  the  flow  of  sewage  is 
not  a  certain  constant  quantity,  only  in  main  sewers 
which  receive  their  flow  from  all  the  minor  sewers, 
and  even  in  main  sewers  the  volume  of  flow  varies  with 
the  hours  of  the  day  in  accordance  with  the  domestic 
work  of  the  many  households  which  supply  it. 

If  the  grades  are  too  light  or  there  is  too  slight  an 
incline,  there  is  more  danger  of  clogging  and  stagnation, 
which  will  cause  offensive  odors  and  the  accumulation 
of  gases  within  the  sewer  system.  As  a  rule,  what  is 
sufficient  to  drain  the  street  surface  is  more  than  suffi- 
cient to  drain  the  sewers. 

Where  the  combined  system  is  used  the  watershed 
area  and  the  annual  rainfalls  are  the  governing  factors. 
Locality,  therefore,  makes  a  great  difference  in  this 
respect :  the  larger  the  watershed  the  larger  must  be 
the  sewers.  Where  the  ground  takes  up  much  water 
and  where  the  streets  are  unimproved,  one  fourth  of 
an  inch  rainfall  per  hour  is  a  fair  basis  for  determining 


GRADES  OF  SEWERS.  87 

the  size  and  grade  of  the  sewers.  In  a  city  where  all 
the  streets  are  improved  (paved  or  macadamized)  the 
absorption  is  very  small,  and  one-half  inch  rainfall  per 
hour  is  a  safe  basis  for  computation.* 

The  shape  of  a  sewer  affects  its  velocity,  and  the  size 
affects  it  even  more.  An  elliptical  or  egg-shaped  sewer 
gives  a  greater  velocity  to  the  same  volume  of  sew- 
age than  if  it  flowed  through  a  round  pipe  of  the  same 
sectional  area ;  the  reason  for  this  is  that  there  is  less 
wetted  perimeter  (i.e.,  wetted  pipe  surface)  in  the 
former  than  in  the  latter  to  the  same  volume  of  sew- 
age, and  this  wetted  surface  retards  the  flow  in  direct 
proportion  to  its  area.  A  sewer  five  feet  in  diameter 
with  a  fall  of  four  feet  per  mile,  and  a  sewer  two  feet 
in  diameter  with  a  fall  of  ten  feet  per 'mile,  have  the 
same  velocity  that  a  sewer  ten  feet  in  diameter  with 
a  fall  of  two  feet  per  mile  has.  A  sewer  having  a  veloc- 
ity of  three  feet  per  second  is  sufficient ;  five  feet  per 
second  is  considered  an  extreme  velocity. 

Where  the  separate  system  is  used  the  questions  of 
watershed  areas  and  rainfalls  are  not  considered.  In 
this  case  the  sewage  of  the  city  only  is  to  be  cared 
for.  Here  the  population  of  a  city,  present  and  pro- 
spective, which  is  to  be  served  with  house-drainage  is 
the  consideration  of  the  engineer  who  makes  the  plans 
for  the  system. 

Whichever  system  is  adopted,  the  grades  and  sizes 

*  The  rainfall  in  Wisconsin  during  the  months  of  May  and  June, 
1892,  amounted  to  fifteen  inches.  This  is  equal  to  nearly  one  half 
the  annual  average  rainfall  for  the  decade  of  1880-90. 


88  MUNICIPAL   IMPROVEMENTS. 

of  sewers  are  not  a  matter  of  guesswork  but  of  mathe- 
matical calculation,  good  judgment,  foresight,  and 
skill ;  and  every  locality  where  sewerage  is  contem- 
plated must  be  studied  and  treated  according  to  the 
conditions  found,  if  an  efficient  system,  economically 
built,  is  desired. 

The  centre  of  all  streets  for  a  width  of  at  least  ten 
feet  (located  longitudinally  with  the  street)  should 
be  reserved  in  all  towns  and  cities  exclusively  for 
sewers.  This  reservation  should  not  prevent  the  sur- 
face of  the  street  from  being  used  for  any  legitimate 
purpose  or  traffic.  It  simply  reserves  that  much  of 
the  street  from  occupation  by  water,  gas,  and  other 
pipes,  or  obstructions  to  sewers  and  sewer  grades.  A 
sewer  in  operation  is  a  gravity  conduit,  while  other 
pipes  or  conduits  are  not  and  a  grade  is  not  essential 
to  their  operation  ;  with  a  sewer,  grade  is  everything ; 
therefore  a  sewerage  system  should  have  first  place  in 
municipal  consideration  and  foresight. 


FIRE  LIMITS.  89 


FIRE   LIMITS. 

THE  fire  limits  of  a  city  should  be  the  corporate 
limits,  but  for  many  reasons  they  are  not  so  defined. 
The  customary  practice  is  to  establish  a  fire  limit  which 
encloses  the  business  centre  of  a  city  and  allows  the 
residence  portion  to  build  as  it  pleases  and  fight  fires 
when  compelled  to.  In  most  cases  the  only  difference 
existing  between  the  inside  and  the  outside  of  the  fire 
limit  is  that  only  brick  or  stone  structures  can  be 
erected  within  the  fire  limits,  and  no  restrictions  what- 
ever are  placed  upon  building  methods  outside  of  it ; 
consequently  the  fire  limit  is  surrounded  with  a  dense 
mass  of  kindling  which,  if  ignited  and  favored  with  a 
brisk  wind  blowing  from  the  right  quarter,  will  burn 
to  the  corporate  limits — the  only  fire  limits  it  recog- 
nizes. 

The  actual  reason  why  the  ordinary  fire  limits  of  a 
city  are  so  contracted  is,  that  it  entails  upon  owners 
of  property  within  such  limits  more  expensive  build- 
ings. The  possibilities  of  obtaining  lower  rates  of  in- 
surance and  securing  less  danger  from  fire  are  minor 
considerations  with  many.  The  overwhelming  depres- 
sion, private  and  public,  which  falls  upon  a  community 
that  has  suffered  a  sweeping  conflagration  is  not  known 
or  appreciated  until  experienced.  Cheap  buildings  are 
desirable  adjuncts  wherewith  to  boom  a  town,  but 
they  add  nothing  to  its  permanence.  The  logic  de- 


QO  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

duced  from  our  present  building  laws  is  well  illustrated 
by  the  remark  of  an  alderman  of  a  city  that  had  re- 
cently suffered  from  a  great  fire  :  "  It  is  better  that  the 
homes  of  the  people  should  burn  rather  than  the  shops 
and  factories  which  give  them  employment  " — which  is 
practically  saying,  "  Of  two  evils  choose  the  least." 
Yet  when  a  fire  sweeps  everything,  homes,  shops,  fac- 
tories, and  all,  directly  there  is  a  strong  demand  upon 
all  sides  for  better  and  more  stringent  building  laws. 
There  is  an  underlying  principle  of  selfishness,  or  it 
may  be  said  avariciousness,  which  controls  and  defines 
the  area  of  a  fire  district  in  cities.  Builders  as  a  rule 
will  erect  buildings  which  will  give  the  highest .  remu- 
neration upon  the  investment,  and  the  rule  as  applied 
is  :  a  building  erected  on  a  certain  lot  and  costing  $4000 
will  return  $400  per  year  to  the  owner,  and  a  building 
erected  upon  the  same  lot,  and  of  the  same  dimen- 
sions, which  costs  $3000  will  also  yield  $400  per  annum. 
The  established  fire  limits  compel  the  erection  of  the 
higher-priced  building.* 

The  principles  of  fire-resisting  construction  and  fire 
limits  cannot  be  very  successfully  maintained  against 
the  percentage  principles  of  investments  ;  they  are  the 
strongest  in  times  of  disaster. 

*  In  less  than  three  weeks  after  the  great  fire  in  Milwaukee,  Wis., 
of  October  28,  1892,  the  burnt  district,  which  had  been  previously 
covered  with  frame  or  wooden  buildings,  was  again  dotted  with  wooden 
buildings  which  had  been  moved  there  by  property  owners  ;  one 
owner  taking  out  four  permits  at  one  time  for  moving  wooden  houses 
thereon.  Yet  there  existed  at  the  time  a  popular  demand  that  this 
burnt  district  be  incorporated  within  the  fire  limits. 


BUILDING  LAWS  AND   ORDINANCES.  91 


BUILDING  LAWS  AND  ORDINANCES. 

EVERY  city  in  this  country  that  has  been  visited  by 
a  disastrous  conflagration  has  immediately  thereafter 
promulgated  more  stringent  laws  and  regulations  re- 
garding the  construction  of  buildings,  and  this  fact 
seems  to  indicate  that  few  if  any  of  our  cities  have 
building  laws  that  are  adequate  and  practical,  or  else 
they  are  not  properly  enforced  by  the  authorities. 

All  of  our  larger  cities  have  in  force  laws  and  regu- 
lations governing  the  construction  of  buildings  of  dif- 
ferent kinds  designed  for  different  uses,  with  inspec- 
tors appointed  whose  duties  are  to  enforce  these  laws. 
These  building  laws  require  that  the  doors  of  public 
buildings,  factories,  and  assemblage  halls  shall  open 
outwards  ;  that  fire  escapes  or  ladders  shall  be  pro- 
vided for  hotels,  office  buildings,  etc.  To  insure 
strength  of  walls,  certain  thicknesses  of  wall  are  defined 
for  each  story  and  the  safety  loads  for  floors  are  pre- 
scribed, yet  in  spite  of  all  precautions  communities  are 
often  horrified  at  the  great  loss  of  life  incident  to  a  con- 
flagration. In  most  instances  the  cause  which  led  to 
the  loss  of  life  was  bad  construction— perhaps  weak  con- 
struction is  a  better  expression,  owing  to  the  niggardly 
economy  of  the  builder,  who  will  erect  an  8-inch  wall 


92  MUNICIPAL   IMPROVEMENTS. 

when  it  should  be  12  inches  thick,  and  support  floors 
with  posts  6x6  inches  cross-section  when  they  should 
be  twice  as  large.  The  strength  of  all  kinds  of  build- 
ing material,  where  used  to  carry  certain  loads  under 
specific  conditions,  is  readily  determined  by  the  com- 
petent architect  and  engineer,  and  it  should  be  made 
a  criminal  act  for  a  builder  to  erect  buildings  whose 
walls  and  floors  have  not  been  passed  upon  and 
approved  by  competent  judges.  The  building  laws 
of  most  cities  are  supposed  to  insure  safe  construc- 
tion in  this  respect,  but  in  very  few  cities  are  such 
laws  rigidly  enforced.  It  is  commonly  said  that  an 
efficient  building  inspector  has  a  short  term  of  office, 
and  there  is  more  than  a  grain  of  truth  in  the  saying ; 
every  bit  of  poor  construction  which  he  condemns 
makes  the  owner  thereof  his  implacable  enemy,  and 
the  inspector  is  sooner  or  later  "  worked "  out  of 
office. 

The  use  of  anchor-bolts  for  uniting  floors  and  wall 
together  is  the  worst  sort  of  construction  and  should 
not  be  tolerated.  The  specious  plea  for  using  such 
bolts  is  that  the  floors  thus  bolted  to  the  walls  tend 
to  stiffen  them  and  thus  make  them  safer.  This  is 
undoubtedly  true  as  affecting  a  weak  wall  ;  any  prop 
will  strengthen  a  weak  wall,  but  a  strong  wall  needs  no 
extraneous  support.  In  reality  the  anchor-bolt  makes 
a  building  unsafe  and  more  dangerous  to  life  and  prop- 
erty should  it  take  fire.  If  the  walls  of  a  building  are 
not  designed  with  sufficient  strength  to  stand  safely 
without  the  extraneous  and  doubtful  stiffness  which 


BUILDING  LAWS  AND   ORDINANCES. 


93 


the  floors  will  afford,  then  their  erection  should  not  be 
permitted.  Builders  of  the  Budensieck  kind  defend 
the  use  of  anchor-bolts  because  they  tend  to  strengthen 
the  walls  of  a  building  :  it  is  a  great  pity  that  such 
builders  cannot  be  deprived  of  the  use  of  the  anchor- 
bolt.  When  buildings  of  this  kind  take  fire  they  are 
unsafe  to  approach ;  firemen  dare  not  enter  them  nor 
mount  the  walls,  and  a  fire-marshal  would  be  justified 
in  allowing  such  buildings  to  burn  to  the  ground.  If 
the  walls  of  a  building  are  designed  and  built  of  proper 
strength  and  stiffness,  the  excuse  for  using  anchor- 
bolts  is  removed. 

The  following  tables  show  the  usual  thickness  of 
wall  required  for  buildings  at  different  heights  or 
stones: 


For  Business,  Manufacturing,  and  Public  Buildings, 
Sixty  Feet  or  more.     Thickness  in  Inches. 


Outside,  Party 

Stories. 

and  Division 

Walls. 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

One  story...  . 

16 

12 

Two  stor  es.  . 

16 

12 

12 

Three 

16 

16 

12 

12 

Four 

20 

16 

16 

12 

12 

Five 

24 

20 

16 

16 

12 

12 

Six 

24 

20 

20 

16 

16 

16 

12 

Seven 

24 

2O 

20 

20 

16 

16 

16 

T2 

Eight 

28 

24 

20 

2O 

20 

16 

16 

16 

12 

94 


MUNICIPA  L  IMPRO  VEMEN  TS. 


For  the  same  Class  of  Buildings  as  for  previous  Table 
less  than  Sixty  Feet  deep.     Thickness  in  Inches. 


Outside,  Party 
and  Division 

Base- 

Stories. 

Walls. 

i 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

One  story.. 

12 

12 

Two  stories 

16 

12 

12 

Three 

16 

12 

12 

12 

Four 

20 

16 

12 

12 

12 

Five 

20 

16 

16 

12 

12 

12 

Six 

24 

20 

16 

16 

12 

12 

12 

Seven 

24 

20 

20 

16 

16 

12 

12 

12 

Eight 

24 

20 

20 

16 

16 

16 

12 

12 

12 

If  the  walls  are  built  of  rubble  masonry,  or  are  faced 
with  stone,  an  increase  of  4  inches  in  thickness  should 
be  added,  also  an  increase  of  4  inches  should  be  made 
in  all  cases  where  the  walls  are  over  100  feet  long, 
unless  there  are  cross  walls  of  equal  height. 

Buildings  erected  for  the  storage  of  petroleum  or 
fluids  of  like  nature  should  be  constructed  as  follows  : 

Walls  should  be  16  inches  thick  and  not  more  than 
16  feet  high,  made  of  brick ;  the  floor  to  be  of  fire- 
proof paving  or  concrete  upon  the  ground,  level  of 
floor  not  to  be  above  street  grade.  Roof  to  be  of 
metal  or  best  composition  roofing ;  fire-wall  all  around 
8  inches  thick  and  not  less  than  18  inches  high.  It 
should  be  built  without  cornice  of  any  kind. 

There  does  not  seem  to  be  a  good,  practicable 
method  for  chimney  construction  provided  in  any  of 
the  building  ordinances  which  the  writer  has  read. 
Most  of  them  commence  by  saying  that  "  no  chimney 


1W1LD1NG  LAWS  AND   ORDINANCES.  9$ 

shall  be  built  with  walls  less  than  4  inches  thick,  and 
no  flues  to  be  less  than  8x8  inches."  This  is  poor 
enough  construction  for  any  chimney,  and  the  ordi- 
nance presumably  deters  the  builder  from  setting  his 
brick  edgewise  when  he  builds  his  chimney. 

There  should  be  a  standard  chimney,  well  defined 
in  dimensions  and  construction,  for  each  class  or  kind 
of  houses  erected  in  cities,  because  the  "  defective 
flue  "  is  the  principal  cause  of  fires  in  all  cities.  It  is 
a  serious  risk  to  build  a  fine  house  with  chimney  walls 
only  4  inches  thick.  Bituminous  coal,  and  all  coal 
which  contains  more  or  less  sulphur,  will  in  time  de- 
stroy the  lime-mortar  in  the  joints  of  a  chimney  and 
render  them  as  porous  as  a  sieve ;  for  this  reason  the 
chimneys  of  all  buildings  erected  in  cities  should  be 
lined  either  with  clay  pipe,  terra-cotta  lining,  fire-brick 
or  cast-iron.  Plastering  the  inside  of  a  chimney  is  not 
sufficient  protection  where  coal  is  burned.  If  dwelling- 
house  flues  were  lined  with  common  brick  placed 
edgewise  within  the  4-inch  walls,  it  would  be  a  vast 
improvement  upon  the  average  dwelling-house  chim- 
ney ;  the  walls  would  then  be  about  7  inches  thick 
and  the  joints  would  alternate,  thus  making  it  a  safe 
flue  within  the  house, 

In  this  country  there  does  not  seem  to  be  any  per- 
sonal responsibility  connected  with  weak  and  defective 
construction  of  buildings  ,  we  see  enough  of  it  so  far  as 
sidewalks,  bridges,  etc.,  are  concerned,  but  the  owner 
of  a  weak,  badly  constructed  building  goes  scot-free 
should  its  destruction  damage  other  buildings. 


g6  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

Contractors  are  often  held  liable  for  injuries  received 
by  an  employee  on  the  work  and  have  to  pay  a  smart 
sum  of  money  in  consequence ;  yet  that  same  building 
may  afterwards  take  fire  because  of  a  defective  flue, 
and  in  burning  destroy  all  the  adjacent  buildings,  but 
the  owner  of  the  building  is  never  held  liable  for  the 
destruction  of  the  adjacent  buildings  because  of  the 
defective  flue.  A  French  court  a  few  years  ago  held  a 
property  owner  liable  for  the  destruction  of  adjoining 
property  by  fire,  caused  by  a  badly  built  chimney 
erected  by  the  defendant.  With  all  our  love  of  justice 
and  fair  play,  we  Americans  have  not  yet  reached  this 
degree  of  equity. 


FIRE-DESISTING  CONSTRUCTION.  97 


FIRE-RESISTING   CONSTRUCTION. 

WHILE  we  cannot  erect  buildings  that  are  absolutely 
fireproof,  yet  we  may  erect  buildings  of  brick  and  iron 
that  are  less  liable  to  damage  beyond  repair,  and  we  can 
erect  wooden  buildings  that  will  resist  fire  long  enough 
to  enable  a  fire  department  to  save  them  and  their  con- 
tents from  a  total  loss,  and  without  doing  serious  dam- 
age to  adjacent  buildings.  Soon  after  the  second  great 
fire  in  Chicago  (July,  1874)  a  prominent  builder  of  that 
city  was  asked,  "  What  are  the  essentials  of  a  fire- 
proof building  ?  "  The  builder's  sententious  reply  was  : 
"  Build  of  brick  and  iron,  use  the  least  quantity  of 
stone  possible,  leave  out  all  doors  and  windows,  and 
put  nothing  in  the  building."  His  comments  upon 
the  use  of  materials  are  the  strong  points  of  fire-resist- 
ing material.  Our  best  building  stones,  limestone  and 
granite,  are  the  poorest  fire-resisting  materials  we  can 
use  in  a  building,  for  they  will  absolutely  go  to  pieces 
under  great  heat.  A  brick  building  to  be  fire-resisting 
should  have  all  its  iron  columns  and  beams  covered 
with  asbestos  or  other  non-heating  substances  :  to  leave 
such  columns  and  beams  exposed  is  to  insure  their 
destruction  should  the  building  take  fire.  Its  windows 
should  be  protected  with  metal  shutters,  and  its  roof 
slated  or  metal-covered.  Elevator  openings  and  stair- 


93  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

ways  should  be  located  outside  its  walls,  thus  having  no 
openings  in  the  floors  within  the  building.  The  floors 
should  be  laid  solidly  with  two  thicknesses  of  plank, 
with  an  intervening  thickness  of  tin  or  galvanized 
sheet-metal  placed  between  the  plank.  The  roof 
should  be  made  of  three-inch  plank,  lap-jointed,  and 
then  covered  with  slate  or  metal.  If  the  basement  is 
to  be  used  for  any  purpose  that  causes  an  accumulation 
of  inflammable  goods,  such  as  a  printing  establish- 
ment would  have,  the  basement  walls  and  the  pedes- 
tals supporting  the  columns  should  all  be  of  brick. 
Wooden  columns  will  stand  a  hot  blaze  for  some  length 
of  time.  They  are  far  safer  than  ordinary  cast-iron 
columns ;  in  fact,  they  are  better  than  iron  columns 
unless  the  iron  is  covered  with  some  non-heating  sub- 
stance. A  wood  column  burns  slowly  when  subjected 
to  a  flame,  and  will  char  slowly  when  subjected  to 
heat  alone ;  while  an  iron  column  will  soften  and 
weaken  when  subjected  to  either  heat  or  flame,*  and 
if  a  stream  of  cold  water  strikes  a  heated  iron  column 
it  will  surely  go  to  pieces. 

There  is  no  building  that  firemen  dread  more  than 
one  built  with  light  brick  walls,  a  stone-veneer  face, 
the  front  and  floors  supported  with  cast-iron  columns 

*  At  the  great  fire  in  Chicago  papers  of  tacks  and  kegs  of  nails  were 
fused  into  solid  masses  and  retained  their  package  shape,  showing  that 
intense  heat  (not  flame)  had  fused  the  iron  into  a  mass  before  the  pack- 
age covering  was  burned  or  destroyed,  otherwise  the  package  shapes 
would  not  have  been  preserved.  The  iron-work  of  a  carriage  melted 
and  dripped  as  if  it  had  been  tallow,  while  parts  of  the  wood  of  the 
running  gear  still  retained  their  shape  although  much  charred. 


FIRE-RESIST/NG  CONSTRU^Tfoy.         ^    QQ 

o     <&****i  • 

unprotected.  A  building  of  this  kind  is  %  x£ndh^p  & 
life  and  property  when  on  fire,  and  in  some  respects 
worse  than  a  wooden-building. 

Wooden  buildings  to  be  fire-resisting  should  be  en- 
closed or  sheeted  outside  of  the  studding ;  have  no 
elevator  or  stairway  openings  within  the  building,  and 
the  floors  and  roof  built  as  described  for  brick  build- 
ings (excepting  slate  covering).  The  ceilings,  walls, 
joists,  studding,  and  all  other  exposed  surfaces  within 
the  building  should  be  well  whitewashed,  which  makes 
the  fibrous  surface  of  the  wood  less  liable  to  quick 
ignition  when  a  fire  occurs. 

In  brick  buildings  wire  or  metallic  (corrugated)  lath- 
ing should  be  used  upon  which  to  plaster  the  walls 
and  ceilings.  All  doorways  should  be  surfaced  with 
tin,  and  the  doors  themselves  covered,  both  sides,  with 
the  same  metal.  All  chimney-flues  should  be  lined 
with  either  clay  pipe  or  fire-brick  from  the  bottom  to 
the  top  of  the  chimney.  A  hollow  cornice  of  either 
wood  or  iron  should  not  be  built,  a  simple  brick  fin- 
ish is  better,  or  a  terra-cotta  cornice  if  ornamentation 
is  desired. 

When  wooden  columns  are  used  they  should  be 
bored  through  the  centre  longitudinally  (i  J  inch  bore) 
and  half-inch  holes  bored  transversely  at  the  top  and 
bottom,  to  prevent  dry-rot.  The  cast-iron  caps  for  the 
tops  of  the  columns  should  have  a  projection  to  enter 
the  bore  of  the  column,  and  the  area  of  the  caps 
should  be  about  three  times  the  cross-section  of  the 
wooden  girders. 


IOO  MUNICIPAL   IMPROVEMENTS. 

Care  must  be  taken  also  to  prevent  dry-rot  in  the 
thick  flooring,  when  it  is  the  intention  to  plaster  be- 
neath it  by  nailing  the  lath  to  furred  projections. 

Cross-walls  should  occur  in  the  building  as  often  as 
convenience  for  use  will  admit ;  if  none  can  be  built, 
the  walls  must  be  strengthened  with  substantial  pilas- 
ters. To  go  farther  into  the  details  of  fire-resisting 
construction  would  encroach  on  the  specifications 
which  the  architect  should  furnish  to  the  builder.  The 
foregoing  items  are  given  to  define  the  essential  fea- 
tures of  fire-resisting  construction. 


MUNICIPAL  BONDS.  IOI 


MUNICIPAL    BONDS. 

THE  issue  of  interest-bearing  bonds  for  the  purpose 
of  providing  funds  for  the  prosecution  of  public  im- 
provements is  a  matter  of  much  importance  to  a 
city,  and  demands  great  deliberation  as  well  as  the 
exercise  of  good  financial  judgment.  While  the 
finances  of  a  city  may  be  in  such  excellent  condition 
that  its  bonds  when  issued  for  a  reasonable  amount 
make  a  really  good,  sound  investment,  yet  sometimes 
the  methods  of  procedure  in  preparing  the  issue  are 
so  irregular  and  careless  in  their  details  that  the  bonds 
do  not  command  a  premium,  nor  even  find  a  ready 
sale,  as  they  otherwise  would  had  the  work  of  the 
council  been  better  done. 

The  issuance  of  bonds  by  a  council  should  always  be 
correct  in  its  minor  details,  and  conform  strictly  to  the 
law  by  which  the  issue  is  governed. 

When  permission  has  been  granted  a  council  by  the 
affirmative  vote  of  an  election  to  issue  bonds,  the  law 
authorizing  such  election  and  the  result  as  shown  by 
the  affirmative  and  negative  votes  cast  should  be 
printed  on  the  face  of  the  bonds ;  also  the  act  passed 
by  the  council  authorizing  the  issue,  with  all  the  neces- 
sary dates.  These  statements  are  relatively  the  same 
as  an  abstract  of  title  to  real  estate,  which  the  pur- 


102  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

chaser  can  verify  or  not — as  he  chooses.  Some  cities 
also  make  a  statement,  on  the  bonds  which  they  may 
issue,  of  their  taxable  wealth  and  property,  and  the 
population  of  the  city. 

The  tendency  of  the  average  council  in  many  of  our 
smaller  cities  is  to  such  paucity  of  record,  and  meagre- 
ness  of  description  of  council  proceedings  as  often- 
times to  subject  the  city  to  discomfiture  in  suits  at 
law.  The  records  of  proceedings  of  a  council  are  as 
valuable  to  the  city  it  represents  as  are  the  recorded 
transactions  of  a  counting-room  of  a  mercantile  house ; 
therefore  the  same  degree  of  care  and  accuracy  should 
be  observed  when  noting  them0 

The  denomination  of  the  bonds  is  also  matter  of 
consideration  :  if  of  large  denomination,  they  will  in 
most  instances  be  bought  up  by  bankers  or  brokers 
of  distant  cities ;  very  few,  if  any,  are  taken  up  by 
the  home  capitalist,  the  denomination  being  too  large 
an  investment  for  him  ;  if  the  issue  is  made  in  small 
denominations  the  citizens  at  home,  of  small  as  well  as 
large  means,  may  absorb  the  entire  issue.  The  great 
city  of  Chicago  found  a  ready  sale  of  its  bonds  in  de- 
nominations of  $50,  bearing  an  annual  interest  of 
3  per  cent.  Bankers  and  brokers  generally  prefer 
bonds  of  large  denominations  and  long-time  periods 
before  maturity.  A  bond  issue  should  not  be  made 
with  conditions  of  payment  that  will  prove  onerous  to 
a  city.  If  the  bonds  are  payable  in  instalments,  the 
period  of  time  between  them  should  be  at  least  two 
years,  especially  if  the  instalments  are  very  large, 


MUNICIPAL  BONDS.  IO3 

although  the  creating  of  a  sinking  fund  to  meet  large 
payments  on  long  periods  of  time  is  quite  as  onerous. 
The  taxpayer  generally  prefers  an  alternate  year  for  a 
breathing  spell,  when  no  special  tax  is  levied. 

There  are  no  better  securities  in  the  land  than  the 
bonds  issued  by  a  thoroughly  solvent,  well-governed 
municipality,  and  its  long-time  bonds  are  much  sought 
after  by  investors ;  such  bonds  will  find  purchasers  a 
long  distance  from  home. 

In  the  West,  and  in  fact  all  over  the  country,  the 
rate  of  interest  on  money  has  been  of  late  years 
steadily  decreasing.  We  have  seen  the  interest  on 
Government  bonds  drop  during  the  past  twenty  years 
from  7  per  cent  to  2  per  cent.  Many  cities  in  the 
West  that  have  been  paying  7  per  cent  on  their  rail- 
way bonded  indebtedness  for  the  past  twenty  years 
can  now  borrow  money  at  5  per  cent,  and  not  a  few 
have  borrowed  at  4  per  cent.  Since  cities  have  ceased 
donating  bonds  to  railway  schemes,  and  have  had 
legislative  restrictions  placed  upon  them  limiting  the 
amount  of  bonded  indebtedness  they  can  incur,  the 
facilities  for  borrowing  money  have  become  greater, 
and  the  rate  of  interest  paid  by  municipalities  has  been 
lowered.  Cities  which  twenty-five  years  ago  "  cheer- 
fully "  gave  three  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  bonds, 
bearing  interest  at  7  per  cent  annually,  to  the  further- 
ance of  some  railway  project,  nowadays  consider  it  a 
very  serious  matter  to  issue,  for  the  construction  of 
water-works  or  sewerage,  fifty  thousand  dollars'  worth 
of  bonds,  bearing  an  annual  interest  of  5  per  cent. 


IO4  MUNICIPAL   IMPROVEMENTS. 

Judging  from  the  past,  it  is  fair  to  suppose  that  the 
future  rate  of  interest  will  be  lower  than  now,  and 
not  a  few  able  financiers  believe  that  the  general  rate 
after  another  decade  has  passed  will  be  about  three 
per  cent  annually.  Taking  this  view,  let  us  suppose 
that  a  certain  city  desires  to  issue  bonds  to  the  amount 
of  forty  thousand  dollars.  Will  it  not  be  good  policy 
to  issue  the  whole  amount  of  forty  thousand  dollars 
redeemable  in  ten  years  at  one  payment,  the  rate  of 
interest  being  5  per  cent  ?  If  at  the  end  of  ten  years 
the  city  is  unable  to  redeem  them,  or  desires  to  defer 
their  redemption  because  of  other  and  more  pressing 
necessities,  it  can  refund  the  whole  amount  at  the  same 
rate  of  interest,  or  at  a  lower  if  the  general  rate 
throughout  the  country  has  dropped  to  the  antici- 
pated 3  per  cent. 

Certainly,  if  the  decrease  in  rate  of  interest  during 
the  next  twenty  years  corresponds  to  that  of  the 
last  twenty,  it  will  be  unwise  for  any  city  to  issue  bonds 
for  a  longer  period  than  ten  years.  The  high  rate  of 
interest  paid  by  Western  cities  on  long-time  railway 
bonds  during  the  past  thirty  years  demonstrates  the 
folly  of  issuing  a  long-time  bond.  Perhaps  the  indica- 
tions of  a  future  low  rate  of  interest  is  one  reason  why 
the  long-time  bond  is  preferred  to  one  that  is  shorter 
lived. 


CULVERTS.  105 


CULVERTS. 

A  CULVERT  is  most  generally  built  of  wood  when  it 
should  be  built  of  either  stone,  brick,  iron,  or  sewer- 
pipe  and  these  materials  are  fast  superseding  the  wood 
culvert. 

Sewer-pipe  twenty-four  inches  in  diameter  is  about 
the  extreme  size  that  can  be  used  for  this  purpose. 
A  brick  culvert  thirty  inches  in  diameter  can  be  built 
as  cheaply  as  an  iron-pipe  culvert  can  be  laid  of  the 
same  diameter.  If  pipes  are  used,  end  protection  walls 
must  be  built  to  prevent  the  washing  away  of  the 
earth  at  the  ends  of  the  pipe. 

Large-span  culverts,  where  sufficient  height  can  be 
had,  can  be  arched  and  built  of  stone ;  but  if  there  is 
not  sufficient  height  for  an  arch,  two  masonry  walls 
can  be  erected  and  steel  I  beams  (twelve  or  fifteen 
inches  depth— according  to  the  length  of  span)  placed 
upon  them,  the  ends  of  the  beams  built  into  the 
masonry  flush  with  their  upper  surfaces,  then  floor  the 
structure  and  erect  railings  upon  either  side.  The  bed 
of  the  stream,  beneath  culverts  of  large  span,  should 
be  paved  with  stone  to  prevent  scouring  in  flood 
seasons ;  the  paving-stones  should  be  not  less  than 
twelve  inches  in  height.  Never  set  the  walls  of  a 


106  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

culvert  on  the  paving :  to  do  so  is  to  invite  their  de- 
struction. 

The  distance  between  culvert  walls  allowed  for  the 
flow  of  water  should  never  be  less  than  the  extreme 
width  of  the  stream  it  spans ;  make  the  distance  more 
rather  than  less.  More  width  is  required  for  the  dis- 
charge of  water  than  when  the  "  oldest  inhabitant  " 
first  saw  the  same  stream.  As  the  streets  are  graded, 
gutters  are  paved  and  many  street  surfaces  are 
wholly  paved,  there  is  a  greater  influx  of  water  re- 
ceived into  the  bed  of  the  stream  and  in  a  much 
shorter  period  of  time  than  when  it  was  a  winding 
meadow  brook,  half  choked  with  weeds  and  rushes, 
and  the  verdure-covered  land  held  much  of  the  rainfall 
for  evaporation  and  absorption  by  the  earth.  Under 
better  conditions  of  streets  and  areas  the  rainfalls 
will  cause  the  water  to  rise  rapidly  in  the  stream 
and  to  a  greater  depth  than  before,  and  it  will  fall 
rapidly  if  the  bed  of  the  stream  has  been  cleaned, 
straightened,  and  otherwise  improved,  as  it  should  be 
to  prevent  damage  from  high  water.  If  the  area  of  the 
watershed  drained  by  a  stream  is  computed, — which 
can  be  easily  done, — there  is  no  reason  why  the  width 
of  a  culvert  opening  should  be  matter  of  guesswork ; 
the  sectional  area  and  the  fall  of  the  stream  are  also 
easily  determined.  With  these  essential  factors  on  hand 
the  local  engineer  can  readily  determine  how  wide  the 
opening  of  the  culvert  should  be,  basing  his  calcula- 
tion upon  a  heavy  rainfall  upon  snow-covered,  frozen 
ground, — a  condition  or  conditions  which  will  give  the 


CULVERTS.  107 

greatest  fluctuation.  A  heavy  rainfall  at  the  close  of 
a  protracted  season  of  rain  will  also  require  great  ca- 
pacity of  discharge.  A  one-inch  rainfall  upon  one  acre 
of  ground  is  equal  to  27,225  gallons  of  water ;  allowing 
a  loss  of  25  per  cent  of  this  quantity  by  evaporation 
and  absorption,  there  is  still  20,418  gallons  to  be  cared 
for  under  ordinary  conditions  and  circumstances. 


IO8  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 


PLANS  FOR  A  CITY  HALL. 

WHEN  the  building  of  a  city  or  village  hall  is  con- 
templated and  the  plans  are  in  the  formative  stage, 
the  first  thing  to  be  considered,  when  the  site  has  been 
determined,  is  the  convenience  of  rooms,  one  with 
another,  relatively  to  public  affairs;  that  is,  particu- 
lar rooms  or  offices  most  frequented  by  the  public 
should  be  easiest  of  access,  and  be  located  so  as  not 
to  discommode  those  who  occupy  rooms  less  fre- 
quented. For  instance,  the  rooms  of  the  city  clerk, 
treasurer,  and  chief  of  police  or  marshal  should  be 
easiest  of  access,  because  they  have  constant  business 
with  the  public  more  than  other  city  officers. 

The  accompanying  plans  of  the  first  and  second 
floors  of  a  city  hall  are  shown,  not  for  an  architectural 
consideration,  but  merely  to  determine  the  best  arrange- 
ment of  the  various  offices  suitable  for  their  purposes. 

The  duties  of  the  city  clerk  and  treasurer  are  almost 
identical — at  least  their  work  is  quite  interdependent 
— consequently  their  office  rooms  are  placed  together ; 
each  room  has  its  own  vault,  and  the  rooms  can  be 
used  en  suite  or  not — during  tax  paying  time  it  will  be 
quite  convenient  to  use  them  so.  The  corner  entrance 
affords  direct  access  from  the  street  and  the  desk- 


PLANS  FOR  A    CITY  HALL.  IOQ 

railing  forms  a  lobby  in  both  rooms  in  which  the  public 
can  transact  business  with  the  occupants. 

The  chief  of  police  or  marshal  has  an  office  on  the 
ground  floor,  near  the  main  entrance ;  as  an  officer 
for  emergencies  he  is  therefore  located  where  he  can 
be  reached  easily  and  quickly.  The  marshal's  duties 
are  quite  in  common  with  those  of  the  "  superintend- 
ent of  the  poor,"  or  the  person  who  has  charge  of 
public  or  municipal  charities :  for  this  reason  the 
rooms  of  these  two  officials  adjoin. 

In  the  rear  of  the  Poor  office  is  the  water-closet,  and 
beyond  it  the  policemen's  room,  from  which  the  patrol- 
men come  and  go  as  their  duties  require.  This  room 
has  a  side  entrance,  presumably  from  the  alley,  through 
which  arrested  persons  may  be  taken  to  the  lockup 
without  passing  through  the  building.  The  loca- 
tion of  the  water-closet,  as  shown,  makes  it  convenient 
of  access  by  all  the  occupants  of  the  'building,  and 
for  the  police  to  take  when  necessary  those  who  are 
confined  in  the  lockup.  From  the  police-room  is 
a  door  to  the  basement  stairway  convenient  for  the 
janitor.  The  lockup  adjoins  the  police-room,  and  is 
designed  for  temporary  lodgment  only ;  it  is  provided 
with  bunks  which  should  be  iron  cots,  and  the 
bedding  should  be  blankets,  and  cotton  ticks  filled 
with  straw,  and  pillows  of  the  same  materials.  The 
blankets  should  be  washed  often,  and  the  ticks  and 
pillows,  with  contents,  should  be  burned  as  often  as 
necessary.  The  windows  of  the  lockup  should  be  at 
least  seven  feet  from  the  floor,  and  barred  upon  the 


10 


MUNICIPAL   IMPROVEMENTS. 


GROUND    PLAN — FRONT. 


PLANS  FOR  A    CITY  HALL. 


Ill 


SECOND    FLOOR — FRONT. 


112  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

outside.  There  is  no  basement  under  the  lockup  floor; 
the  area  inside  the  walls  is  filled  with  gravel  to  within 
six  inches  of  the  floor  level,  and  upon  this  are  placed 
slabs  of  stone  six  inches  thick,  which  serves  as  a  floor; 
ventilation  should  be  provided  at  the  ceiling.  The 
floor  of  the  hose-carriage  room  is  presumably  about 
two  feet  lower  than  the  office  floor  of  the  hall.  There 
is  no  basement  underneath  this  room  nor  under  the 
stable  adjoining ;  the  floors  are  on  a  level  with  the 
grade  of  the  sidewalk,  and  are  made  of  two  thicknesses 
of  surfaced  plank,  laid  crosswise  of  each  other  upon  a 
gravel  filling,  the  same  as  described  for  the  lockup 
floor ;  or  a  cement  floor  may  be  laid. 

The  stalls  in  the  stable  are  planned  the  same  as  those 
in  general  use  where  the  doors  are  opened  by  electrical 
power ;  no  mangers  are  provided,  the  animals  being 
fed  from  boxes  placed  before  them,  or,  as  is  most 
commonly  done,  the  feed  is  dumped  upon  the  floor 
at  the  head  of  the  stall.  The  place  for  hay  storage 
is  sufficiently  large  where  baled  or  pressed  hay  is 
fed ;  this  may  be  built  with  4X4  inch  posts  and  the 
outside  sheeted  with  No.  26  galvanized  iron  and  then 
painted  ;  all  that  is  necessary  is  to  protect  the  hay 
from  sparks  of  fire  and  from  pilferers.  The  paved 
court,  if  roofed,  makes  a  convenient  place  to  groom 
the  horses.  It  is  presumed  the  city  has  a  water-works 
system,  and  only  a  two-horse  hose-carriage  need  be  kept 
in  the  building ;  larger  accommodations  for  stabling 
horses  will  be  necessary  if  both  a  steam  fire-engine  and 
hose  cart  are  kept  in  the  building.  It  may  be  observed 


PLANS  FOR  A    CITY  HALL,  113 

that  no  communication  exists,  within  the  hall,  between 
the  office  part  of  the  building  and  that  portion  occu- 
pied by  the  fire  department ;  consequently  no  odors 
from  the  stable  are  communicated  to  the  offices.  If  it 
is  necessary  to  place  a  heating-stove  in  the  hose-car- 
riage room,  another  flue  may  be  added  to  the  chimney, 
although  it  is  designed  to  heat  the  building  either  by 
hot  air  or  steam,  from  a  boiler  or  furnace  in  the  base- 
ment. 

The  main  hall  is  eight  feet  wide,  and  leads  direct 
from  the  main  entrance  to  the  stairway,  which  is  of 
the  same  width.  The  stairway  should  be  of  easy 
ascent,  not  more  than  seven-inch  risers  and  about 
fourteen  inches  tread.  The  entry  at  the  head  of  the 
stairway  is  commodious  and  well  lighted. 

The  council  chamber  has  a  wide  entrance — doors  to 
be  double,  and  to  swing  either  way.  The  chamber  is 
29  X  33  feet,  and  ample  for  a  council  composed  of 
fourteen  aldermen.  It  is  well  lighted,  having  six  win- 
dows ;  the  large  window  shown  above  the  mayor's  desk 
should  be  placed  at  least  eight  feet  above  the  floor, 
and  the  glass  should  be  either  colored  or  opaque, 
so  as  not  to  affect  the  eyesight  of  the  aldermen  who 
may  sit  facing  it.  The  location  of  this  window  affords 
a  good  position  for  placing  an  historical  window  of 
colored  glass,  relating  to  some  past  event  in  the  history 
of  the  city.  The  chamber  should  have  a  hardwood 
floor,  and  the  walls  should  be  wainscoted  to  a  height 
of  about  four  feet  upon  all  sides. 

The  school  board  has  a  room  adjacent  to  the  council- 


114  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

chamber;  a  window-lighted  closet  connects  with  this 
room,  where  books  and  school  supplies  may  be  kept 
under  lock. 

The  committee-room,  connecting  with  the  council- 
chamber,  can  be  used  as  a  mayor's  office  if  desirable. 
The  city  engineer's  office  is  convenient  of  access  and 
well  lighted. 

The  lower  floor  of  the  hall  should  have  its  ceiling 
fourteen  feet  high  ;  the  upper  floor  may  be  the  same 
if  additional  height  can  be  had  in  the  roof  over  the 
council-chamber — the  ceiling  of  the  chamber  should  be 
fifteen  feet  high.  If  the  ceiling  of  the  lower  floor  is 
made  fourteen  feet  high,  that  of  the  hose-carriage  room 
will  be  about  sixteen  feet.  There  is  no  economy  in 
making  ceilings  very  high :  they  do  not  afford  any 
better  facilities  for  ventilation  than  of  moderate  height ; 
besides,  more  expense  is  incurred  in  heating  rooms 
with  lofty  ceilings.  Ventilation  for  the  council-cham- 
ber may  be  had  through  walls  and  roof,  if  provided  for 
in  the  plans. 

The  extreme  dimensions  of  the  hall  are  54  X  60  feet. 
The  rear  addition  is  16  X  60  feet  if  we  include  the 
court.  The  building  is  presumed  to  stand  at  a  street 
corner,  detached  from  other  structures. 

The  ground  area  occupied  by  the  building  includes 
4328  square  feet.  It  can  be  built  for  about  $12,000, 
which  includes  heating  apparatus,  plumbing,  and  sewer 
connections. 

It  is  designed  to  be  of  brick,  with  stone  door  and 
window  sills,  water  table,  and  porch  columns.  Roof  to 


PLANS  FOR  A    CITY  HALL.  I  15 

be  slated.  Hardwood  floors  in  hallway  and  entry ; 
stairs  of  the  same  material.  Provide  ventilation  for 
the  vaults  by  means  of  iron  pipes,  about  three  inches 
in  diameter,  which  may  be  removed  when  the  vaults 
have  dried  out  and  the  openings  then  filled  with  good 
concrete.  It  is  almost  impossible  to  make  a  vault  (such 
as  are  shown  in  the  plan,  for  the  clerk  and  treasurer) 
dry  out  in  a  year's  time  so  that  it  can  be  used,  unless 
ventilation  is  provided. 


Il6  MUNICIPAL   IMPROVEMENTS, 


CLEANLINESS  AND  PUBLIC  HEALTH. 

WE  of  this  generation  are  lectured  more  on  the  sub 
ject  of  cleanliness  as  conducive  to  public  health  than 
on  almost  any  other  matter  which  relates  to  public 
affairs.  Yet  our  towns  and  cities  are  not  kept  in  a 
cleanly  condition ;  indeed,  there  are  few  municipalities 
which  do  not  put  forth  supreme  efforts,  annually,  to 
eradicate  or  abate  some  epidemic  that  is  increasing 
the  death-rate  of  the  community  above  the  average, 
and  the  cause  of  this  increased  mortality  can  in  most 
cases  be  traced  directly  to  a  neglect  of  proper  sanita- 
tion. 

The  cleanliness  of  cities  is  an  enforced,  not  a  volun- 
tary, condition.  Every  city  has  upon  record  laws  and 
ordinances  sufficient,  which  if  properly  enforced,  v/ould 
leave  nothing  to  be  said  or  written  upon  this  subject ; 
but  filthy  conditions  exist  because  such  laws  are  not 
enforced,  and  only  in  our  larger  cities  is  any  serious 
attempt  made  to  make  people  cleanly  according  to 
the  requirements  of  sanitary  laws  and  regulations. 

The  cleanliness  of  a  city,  if  made  clean  at  all,  must 
be  obtained  through  the  efforts  of  a  board  of  health, 
a  body  of  medical  men  appointed  specially  for  the 
purpose  of  enforcing  such  sanitary  laws  and  regula- 
tions as  are  by  charter  provided  ;  but  if  these  medical 


CLEANLINESS  AND   PUBLIC  HEALTH.  1 1/ 

men,  in  the  exercise  of  their  duties  as  health  officers, 
attempt  to  carry  out  the  sanitary  requirements  of  the 
law,  involving  an  expense  to  the  individual  and  the 
city,  they  will  surely  draw  upon  themselves  a  great 
deal  of  censure  and  personal  dislike.  The  average 
individual  seems  to  consider  personal  conditions  as 
personal  prerogatives,  and  therefore  resents  most  em- 
phatically any  insinuations  regarding  the  filthiness  of 
his  person  or  premises.  If  by  the  filthiness  of  his  prem- 
ises sickness  is  caused  in  his  household,  he  will  not 
hesitate  to  call  a  physician  to  meet  the  patient ;  but 
if  that  physician,  as  a  health  officer,  have  previously 
called  upon  the  householder  and  warned  him  to 
remove  the  existing  cause  of  the  illness,  the  probabili- 
ties are  that  the  physician  will  be  unceremoniously 
ordered  off  the  premises,  nor  will  he  afterwards  be 
called  to  treat  the  patient.  This  should  not  be  con- 
sidered an  exceptional  instance,  for  every  bureau 
officer  connected  with  a  city  government  knows  how 
far  he  can  go  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties  and  retain 
his  popularity  ;  when  this  is  gone  his  displacement  is 
sure  to  follow. 

The  general  public  are  apt  to  confound  hygienic 
regulations  with  sumptuary  laws  and  do  not  clearly 
note  the  difference ;  hence  the  unpopularity  of  an 
officer  which  oftentimes  results  from  the  enforcement 
of  sanitary  laws. 

Some  years  ago  it  was  a  mooted  question  among 
scientists  whether  disease  is  produced  by  filth  alone  or 
by  filth  and  some  particular  poison.  Of  late  years 


Il8  MUNICIPAL   IMPROVEMENTS. 

Liebermeister's  opinion  is  gaining  ground  :  that  filth 
is  the  favorable  nest  (nidus)  for  disease  to  find  condi- 
tions favorable  to  a  rapid  development,  and  a  potent 
auxiliary  to  filth  in  the  spreading  of  disease  is  damp- 
ness. The  Massachusetts  Board  of  Health  says,  in 
one  of  its  reports :  '•  The  most  widespread  evil  in  our 
State  brought  out  by  these  investigations  is  dampness 
of  soil  arising  from  incomplete  drainage."  This  con- 
clusion was  arrived  at  after  a  series  of  long-continued 
and  exhaustive  investigations  to  find  and  locate  causes 
which  led  to  the  outbreak  of  typhoid  fever  and  other 
diseases. 

We  need  no  better  sanitary  laws  and  regulations 
than  now  exist  in  nearly  all  cities,  but  they  do  need  a 
more  efficient  and  intelligent  recognition  from  the  in- 
dividual, and  the  general  public  through  its  represen- 
tatives, the  common  council.  If  such  laws  were 
enforced  one  half  as  rigidly  as  the  same  laws  are  in 
the  forts  and  encampments  of  the  army,  there  would 
be  much  less  to  complain  of  in  this  matter  of  municipal 
cleanliness.  There  is  no  good  reason  why  a  city  should 
not  be  as  cleanly  as  the  ground  occupied  by  troops 
where  the  need  of  it  is  equally  as  great,  if  not  greater ; 
for  a  city  has  a  large  population  of  the  young  and  the 
helpless  to  protect  and  care  for.  The  Union  troops 
which  occupied  the  city  of  New  Orleans  during  the 
civil  war  made  that  city  so  clean  that  no  epidemics 
occurred  there  until  after  the  government  of  the  city 
reverted  to  its  civil  rulers. 

It   is    undoubtedly   true   that   the    uncleanness    of 


CLEANLINESS  AND  PUBLIC  HEALTH. 


119 


120  MUNICIPAL   IMPROVEMENTS. 

towns  and  cities  is  the  cause  of  most  of  the  diseases 
which  prevail  within  them.  The  diseases  prevalent 
from  this  cause  are  small-pox,  measles,  scarlet  fever, 
diphtheria,  croup,  typhoid  fever,  diarrhoea,  cholera 
morbus  and  dysentery,  consumption  and  pneumonia. 
The  detailed  causes  of  the  appearance  of  such  diseases 
are  :  bad  or  no  ventilation,  overcrowded  habitations, 
a  polluted  surface  and  subsoil,  bad  drainage  or  none 
at  all,  neglect  of  vaccination,  of  isolation  and  disinfec- 
tion, the  presence  of  filth  and  the  use  of  impure  water 
in  the  household. 

The  purity  of  the  water  used  has  much  to  do  with 
the  healthfulness  of  a  community,  and  the  greatest 
care  should  be  exercised  to  obtain  a  wholesome 
water  which  should  be  proven  so  by  analysis.  All 
water  obtained  from  wells  located  within  a  munici- 
pality should  be  rejected  for  use  in  the  household 
and  the  wells  filled  up,  for  very  few  will  bear  the  test 
of  purity.  True,  the  average  citizen  will  almost  always 
defend  the  purity  of  the  water  from  the  well  located 
upon  his  premises ;  he  may  say  that  he  has  drunk  that 
water  for  twenty  or  perhaps  forty  years  and  he  is 
quite  certain  of  its  purity.  At  the  same  time  he  for- 
gets that  the  population  about  him  has  in  the  mean- 
time increased  perhaps  an  hundred-fold,  and  the  now 
inhabited  watershed  which  supplies  that  well  with 
water  is  not  the  cleanly  slope  it  was — all  those  years 
the  population  has  steadily  contributed  to  its  pollution. 

The  water  in  such  a  well  may  be  clear,  sparkling,  and 
palatable.  The  sparkle  is  due  largely  to  the  presence 


CLEANLINESS  AND  PUBLIC  HEALTH.  121 

of  carbonic  acid  gas ;  and  if  some  of  the  water  is  put 
into  a  bottle  and  placed  where  it  will  be  warm,  it  will 
soon  indicate  its  bad  qualities  by  a  putrid  condition 
and  offensive  smell. 

The  vaults  of  all  privies  within  towns  and  cities 
should  be  built  water-tight.  It  is  better  that  they 
should  always  be  built  so,  whether  in  the  city  or  coun- 
try, for  the  farmer  is  not  always  particular  regarding 
the  juxtaposition  of  privy  and  well. 

Where  sewerage  is  provided  the  outdoor  privy  is 
generally  dispensed  with,  but  where  it  remains  in 
use  the  vault  should  be  built  as  previously  stated, 
because  it  is  essential  to  the  healthfulness  of  a  com- 
munity that  the  area  of  ground  upon  which  it  lives 
and  exists  should  be  undefiled,  that  causes  for  its 
pollution  should  not  be  allowed  to  exist.  In  wet  sea- 
sons, when  cellars  are  made  damp  or  are  flooded  with 
storm-water  surcharged  more  or  less  with  the  pollu- 
tion of  the  soil  through  which  it  percolates  into  the 
cellar,  the  future  danger  from  disease  in  the  household 
has  its  beginning.  It  does  not  follow  that  because 
the  cellar  has  a  connection  with  the  street  sewer  to 
drain  off  the  inflow,  there  will  be  an  exemption  from 
illness  in  the  household  ;  it  is  quite  the  reverse.  For 
the  sewer-drain  removes  only  the  flowing  water  and 
leaves  the  cellar  damp,  retaining  all  the  impurities  of 
the  soil  brought  into  it  by  the  influx  of  the  water.  If 
storm-water  is  allowed  to  stand  in  puddles  on  the 
street,  it  will  surely  find  its  way  into  adjacent  cellars 
if  the  soil  is  at  all  porous. 


122  MUNICIPAL   IMPROVEMENTS. 

Parents  are  often  inclined  to  charge  the  public 
school  with  the  cause  of  illness  of  their  children.  In- 
ferentially  they  are  correct  in  doing  so,  for  the  public 
schools  assist  in  the  dissemination  of  diseases,  but  it  is 
rarely  that  a  disease  originates  within  them.  More 
often  the  disease  which  has  an  outbreak  in  the  school 
comes  from  some  household  wherein  the  sanitary  con- 
ditions are  bad,  and  the  children  have  carried  its  results 
into  the  school-room. 

During  the  late  war,  after  a  regiment  had  encamped 
upon  a  plot  of  ground  for  several  weeks,  its  comman- 
der would  remove  the  regiment  elsewhere,  and  the 
camp  would  then  be  made  upon  new  and  fresher 
ground,  because  the  old  camp-ground  had  become  un- 
cleanly and  in  a  condition  which  made  it  a  menace 
to  the  health  of  the  troops  encamped  upon  it.  Yet 
there  are  hundreds  of  towns  and  small  cities  in  this 
country  which  have  been  camping-grounds  for  the 
denizens  thereof  for  a  great  many  years,  and  they  have 
neither  moved  to  more  cleanly  and  fresher  sites  nor 
have  they  done  anything  to  make  existing  conditions 
more  cleanly  and  healthful.  The  truth  plainly  told 
is  that  the  average  citizen  of  the  smaller  towns  and 
cities  has  rather  a  contemptuous  opinion  of  sanitation 
in  all  its  branches,  and  is  also  inclined  to  consider  the 
relations  between  filth  and  disease  as  being  something 
mythological. 

The  occasional  cholera  "  scares "  which  sweep  this 
country  are  the  best  incentives  to  municipal  and  pri- 
vate cleanliness  that  we  have.  One  scare  such  as  we 


o      •'- 

CLEANLINESS  AND  PUBLIC  HEALT^O,       123 


. 
had  in  1892  did  more  to  alarm  and  awaken  the  public 

to  the  needs  of  general  sanitation,  and  cause  immedi- 
ate and  active  efforts  towards  cleanliness,  than  all  the 
lectures  and  publications  which  have  been  uttered 
upon  this  question  during  the  past  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury. 

If  we  are  inclined  to  believe  that  the  particular  city 
in  which  we  live  is  a  cleanly  one,  all  we  have  to  do  to 
prove  or  to  disprove  the  fact  is  to  make  an  exploration 
of  the  alleys  and  back-yards  within  it.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary to  relate  what  sorts  of  filth  may  be  found,  nor 
speak  of  the  general  condition  of  the  alleys  and  back- 
yards thus  explored,  but  it  is  quite  safe  to  say  that 
few  of  us  can  make  such  an  investigation  and  after- 
wards say  that  we  live  in  a  city  which  is  thoroughly 
clean. 

The  writer  was  told  more  than  once  that  a  heap 
of  manure  which  remained  piled  in  an  alley  some 
length  of  time  was  not  at  all  detrimental  to  healthful 
conditions,  because,  it  was  said,  it  contained  so  little 
moisture  —  never  enough  to  make  a  rill,  however  small  ; 
yet  directly  above  the  heap  was  the  eave  of  a  barn, 
without  a  gutter  ;  and  all  the  rainfall  from  that 
slope  of  the  roof  fell  on  and  about  the  heap,  carry- 
ing with  it  into  the  earth  its  share  towards  the  pol- 
lution of  the  soil  of  the  city.  In  many  places  it  is 
hardly  thought  worth  the  while  to  grade  alleys  and 
provide  them  with  gutters,  because  they  are  so  little 
travelled  ;  consequently  the  rainfall,  instead  of  washing 
its  surface  clean,  makes  pools  of  water  in  all  the  de- 


124  MUNICIPAL   IMPROVEMENTS. 

pressions,  and  its  subsequent  absorption  carries  all  the 
impurities  into  the  earth  with  it. 

Garbage  should  always  be  deposited  in  water-tight 
receptacles  and  thence  regularly  emptied  and  the  con- 
tents carted  away.  Manure,  carcasses  of  dead  animals, 
small  as  well  as  large,  dead  poultry  and  all  such  refuse 
should  be  removed  daily  from  the  precincts  of  a  city 
and  either  buried  or  burned ;  the  dumping  of  such 
matter  into  living  waters  should  be  prohibited  by  a 
general  law. 

The  piles  of  boxes,  barrels,  refuse  timber,  and  other 
such  material  generally  found  in  back-yards  are  not 
conducive  to  healthful  surroundings ;  they  not  only 
retain  dampness  and  become  affected  with  partial  de- 
cay, but  they  cover  the  ground  and  keep  it  damp, 
when  every  foot  of  unoccupied  ground  about  the 
premises  should  be  exposed  to  all  the  air  and  sunshine 
that  can  favor  it.  Decaying  vegetable  matter  in  back 
yards  will  produce  miasmatic  conditions  as  well  as  if  it 
were  in  a  swamp,  with  a  partial  advantage  in  favor  of 
the  swamp  during  those  seasons  of  the  year  when 
it  is  overflowed  with  water,  the  decay  being  arrested 
by  the  submergence.  Casting  kitchen  slops  upon  the 
premises  should  never  be  allowed  by  a  householder. 
They  contain  a  great  deal  of  objectionable  matter  and 
is  one  of  the  most  difficult  fluids  to  dispose  of  by  earth 
absorption  that  we  have,  and  one  of  the  most  difficult 
to  cleanse  of  its  impurities.  Few  persons  can  conceive, 
without  examination,  how  very  foul  a  plot  of  earth 
will  become  that  has  been  the  dumping-place  for 


CLEANLINESS  AND  PUBLIC  HEALTH.          12$ 

kitchen  slops  for  a  considerable  length  of  time.  If  the 
soil  is  at  all  porous,  this  sort  of  pollution  will  affect  the 
earth  many  feet  below  the  surface. 

It  is  difficult  to  prevent  the  use  of  cesspools  on  pri- 
vate grounds,  but  every  cesspool  in  use  contributes  to 
the  unhealthfulness  of  a  community,  inasmuch  as  it 
contributes  to  the  general  pollution  of  the  subsoil. 

Individual  effort  employed  at  intervals  will  not 
keep  a  city  clean  ;  the  combined  efforts  of  all  are  re- 
quired :  if  one  man  keeps  his  premises  clean  and  his 
neighbor  does  not,  both  are  likely  to  suffer  from  the 
latter's  neglect.  Perhaps  no  other  condition  in  life  in 
which  man  is  placed  exemplifies  so  well  the  old  adage 
"  that  one  man  is  another  man's  keeper"  as  in  this 
one  question  of  municipal  cleanliness,  when  a  neighbor 
having  filthy  premises  may  cause  disease  and  death  in 
one's  household. 

The  statistics  of  the  cholera  epidemic  which  pre- 
vailed in  London  in  1854  show  that  where  people  used 
water  conveyed  through  pipes  from  a  pure  supply 
the  deaths  were  37  to  10,000,  and  among  those  who 
used  water  from  wells  and  cisterns  the  deaths  were 
130  to  10,000.  Sixty-six  per  cent  greater  mortality 
among  those  who  drank  impure  water  !  This  is  cited 
to  show  how  thoroughly  the  subsoil  of  a  city  can  be- 
come polluted  and  the  inhabitants  not  realize  to  what 
extent  the  danger  exists. 

Ice  will  contain  germs  of  disease  if  taken  from 
waters  affected  by  the  decomposition  of  vegetation  ; 
this  is  often  done  under  the  belief  that  the  water  from 


126  MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS. 

which  the  ice  was  formed  is  strictly  pure.  Freezing 
water  does  not  destroy  the  germs  of  disease  it  may 
contain,  although  freezing  may  cause  them  to  be  in- 
operative, as  it  were,  until  placed  in  warmer  conditions 
when  used  in  the  household.  Therefore  a  city  should, 
as  a  part  of  its  hygienic  duties,  exercise  some  over- 
sight regarding  the  source  of  the  ice  supplied  to  its 
inhabitants. 

In  all  towns  and  cities  there  exist  people  who  are 
not  cleanly  either  of  person  or  premises ;  a  great  many 
who  have  come  here  from  abroad  are  not  cleanly 
either  by  training  or  instinct,  and  their  number  is 
so  large  and  they  congregate  under  such  unwhole- 
some conditions  in  our  cities  that  they  should  receive 
special  attention  until  they  become  habituated  to  a 
cleaner  life.  There  are  others  also  who  are  uncleanly 
in  their  person  and  surroundings  who  do  not  live  in 
poverty  nor  in  overcrowded  tenement-houses.  Squalor 
and  poverty  are  terms  generally  used  to  describe  the 
poor  of  cities,  yet  there  are  many  poor  people  who  are 
as  neat  and  cleanly  in  all  respects  as  can  be  found  : 
squalor  and  laziness  are  more  often  the  conditions 
which  go  together,  and  where  found  the  sanitary  laws 
should  be  rigorously  applied,  for  it  is  from  such  people 
that  epidemics  spread  among  our  schools. 

The  health  officer  cannot  very  well  compel  cleanli- 
ness in  a  household,  nor  can  he  investigate  the  condi- 
tion of  private  cellars  previous  to  the  outbreak  of  a 
disease.  We  can  only  surmise  from  external  appear- 
ances that  filthy  conditions  exist  there,  and  we  must 


CLEANLINESS  AND   PUBLIC  HEALTH.  I2/ 

await  results  before  an  inspection  of  the  premises  will 
be  tolerated.  But  we  can  compel  cleanliness  of  clothes 
and  person  of  the  children  sent  to  school  from  such 
habitations,  and  this  is  a  matter  which  should  be  rigidly 
observed  by  all  school  boards.  Some  of  them  have  al- 
ready taken  hold  of  this  question  of  cleanliness  of 
pupils  and  in  a  commendable  manner,  and  public  opin- 
ion should  strengthen  the  hands  of  the  school  com- 
missioner in  this  work,  by  giving  him  an  unqualified 
support.  As  a  hygienic  writer  has  truly  said,  rear  the 
children  to  habits  of  cleanliness  and  the  result  is  a 
greater  self-respect  and  a  higher  view  of  man's  general 
condition,  which  leads  them  to  revolt  against  filth  and 
disease  as  they  become  older. 

Sewage  disposal  is  another  important  question  which 
the  denizens  of  all  cities,  not  already  having  done  so, 
will  be  called  upon  to  solve.  The  great  increase  of 
population  of  this  country  during  the  past  twenty-five 
years  is  shown  quite  conclusively,  if  in  no  other  way, 
by  the  general  adoption  of  sewerage  systems  even 
by  incorporated  villages  as  well  as  cities.  Ten  years 
hence  the  sewer  connections  in  these  towns  and  cities 
will  be  quite  extensively  made,  and  all  those  modern 
appurtenances  of  the  household  which  collect  and  con- 
vey filth  to  the  public  sewer  will  be  in  almost  general 
use,  and  the  daily  outpouring  of  sewage  will  then  be 
so  great  that  the  question  of  sewage  disposal  will  of 
itself  arise, — and  it  can  be  downed  only  in  one  way, 
and  that  way  must  lead  to  a  purifying  process  of  some 
kind.  Those  cities  located  remote  from  tide-water 


128  MUNICIPAL   IMPROVEMENTS. 

will  be  the  first  to  care  for  their  sewage  which  has 
been  for  years  polluting  some  river,  lake,  or  pond. 
We  are  quite  content,  as  a  general  rule,  to  turn  our 
sewage  into  such  living  waters,  and  excuse  ourselves 
with  the  plea  that  it  is  but  temporary ;  yet  it  is  a  fact 
that  we  do  not  abate  the  nuisance  until  an  outside 
(outside  the  corporate  limits)  influence  and  pressure 
compels  such  abatement ;  and  it  is  this  outside  pres- 
sure of  public  opinion  which  will  sooner  or  later  com- 
pel a  majority  of  our  cities  to  take  care  of  their  sewage 
in  a  manner  that  will  not  be  offensive  nor  objection- 
able to  the  residents  of  adjoining  towns. 

Man  is  naturally  gregarious,  and  what  with  "  booms,'* 
bonuses  to  manufacturing  plants,  and  the  construction 
of  suburban  motor  lines  of  railway,  he  is  forcing  this 
natural  instinct  to  a  greater  development  than  was 
ever  known  before.  By  this  means  our  cities  are  grow- 
ing larger  in  area,  and  the  populations  becoming  more 
condensed,  and  the  question  of  sanitation  follows 
closely  at  the  heels  of  this  rapid  material  development. 
The  population  is  on  the  ground,  its  work  of  pollution 
has  begun  ;  for  how  long  a  community  will  fight 
against  diphtheria,  scarlet  fever,  and  other  zymotic  dis- 
eases before  it  will,  as  a  body,  act  to  remove  the 
causes,  will  depend  largely  upon  the  mortality  within  it. 

The  safe  requirements  for  a  community  to  observe 
and  enforce  to  promote  its  healthfulness  are :  clean 
streets,  alleys,  and  private  grounds  ;  a  well-drained 
subsoil  and  dry  cellars ;  the  daily  removal  of  all  garb- 
age ;  a  water  supply  of  known  purity;  good  ventila- 


CLEANLINESS  AND  PUBLIC  HEALTH.  I2Q 

tion  in  schools,  halls  of  assemblage,  and  in  its  homes, 
and  the  observance  of  personal  cleanliness  in  all  con- 
ditions of  life.  We  may  not  all  be  inclined  to  believe 
that  these  conditions  are  strictly  essential  to  the  gen- 
eral good  health  of  a  community,  but  we  might  give 
them  the  benefit  of  the  doubt,  and  take  care  that  the 
truth  does  not  come  to  us  through  bitter  experience. 


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